President Trump has ridiculed Denmark\u2019s dog sled teams in Greenland.<\/p>\n
He has cited mysterious Chinese and Russian ships prowling off the coast.<\/p>\n
He seems increasingly fixated on the idea that the United States should take over this gigantic icebound island, with one official saying the president wants to buy it and another suggesting that the United States could simply take it. Just a few days ago, Mr. Trump said: \u201cWe need Greenland from the standpoint of national security.\u201d<\/p>\n
But the question is: Does the United States even need to buy Greenland \u2014 or do something more drastic \u2014 to accomplish all of Mr. Trump\u2019s goals?<\/p>\n
Under a little-known Cold War agreement, the United States already enjoys sweeping military access in Greenland. Right now, the United States has one base in a very remote corner of the island. But the agreement allows it to \u201cconstruct, install, maintain, and operate\u201d military bases across Greenland, \u201chouse personnel\u201d and \u201ccontrol landings, takeoffs, anchorages, moorings, movements, and operation of ships, aircraft, and waterborne craft.\u201d<\/p>\n
It was signed in 1951 by the United States and Denmark, which colonized Greenland more than 300 years ago and still controls some of its affairs.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe U.S. has such a free hand in Greenland that it can pretty much do what it wants,\u201d said Mikkel Runge Olesen, a researcher at the Danish Institute for International Studies in Copenhagen.<\/p>\n
\u201cI have a very hard time seeing that the U.S. couldn\u2019t get pretty much everything it wanted,\u201d he said, adding, \u201cif it just asked nicely.\u201d<\/p>\n
But buying Greenland \u2014 something that Secretary of State Marco Rubio told lawmakers on Tuesday was Mr. Trump\u2019s latest plan \u2014 is a different question.<\/p>\n
Greenland does not want to be bought by anyone \u2014 especially not the United States. And Denmark does not have the authority to sell it, Dr. Olesen said.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt is impossible,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n
In the past, Denmark would have been the decider. In 1946, it refused the Truman administration\u2019s offer of $100 million in gold<\/a>.<\/p>\n Today, things are different<\/a>. Greenlanders now have the right to hold a referendum on independence<\/a> and Danish officials have said it\u2019s up to the island\u2019s 57,000 inhabitants to decide their future. A poll last year found 85 percent of residents opposed the idea of an American takeover.<\/p>\n Greenland\u2019s prime minister, Jens-Frederik Nielsen, has repeatedly scoffed at the idea of being bought, saying<\/a> this past week, \u201cOur country is not for sale.\u201d<\/p>\n The relatively short, straightforward defense agreement between the United States and Denmark was updated in 2004 to include Greenland\u2019s semiautonomous government, giving it a say in how American military operations might affect the local population. The roots of the agreement go back to a partnership forged during World War II.<\/p>\n At that time, Denmark was occupied by the Nazis. Its ambassador in Washington, cut off from Copenhagen, took it upon himself to strike a defense agreement for Greenland with the United States. (The island is part of North America, along the Arctic Ocean and close to Canada\u2019s coast.)<\/p>\n The fear was that Nazis could use Greenland as a steppingstone to America. The Germans had already established small meteorological bases on the island\u2019s east coast and relayed information for battles in Europe. American troops eventually ousted them and established more than a dozen bases there with thousands of troops, landing strips and other military facilities.<\/p>\n After World War II, the United States continued to run some bases and a string of early warning radar sites. As the Cold War wound down, the United States closed all of them except one. It\u2019s now called the Pittufik Space Base<\/a> and helps track missiles crossing the North Pole.<\/p>\n The Danes have a light presence, too: a few hundred troops, including special forces that use dog sleds to conduct long-range patrols. In recent months, the Danish government has vowed to upgrade its bases and increase surveillance.<\/p>\n After American special forces captured Nicol\u00e1s Maduro, the president of Venezuela, from a safehouse last week, Mr. Trump seemed emboldened. Stephen Miller, a top aide, then claimed that Greenland should belong to the United States and that \u201cnobody\u2019s going to fight the United States\u201d<\/a> over it. Danish and Greenlandic anxiety skyrocketed.<\/p>\n On Tuesday night, Danish and Greenlandic leaders asked to meet with Mr. Rubio, according to Greenland\u2019s foreign minister. It\u2019s not clear if or when that might happen.<\/p>\n Tensions between Mr. Trump and Denmark\u2019s prime minister, Mette Frederiksen, have been steadily rising, as Mr. Trump pushes to \u201cget\u201d Greenland, as he puts it, while Ms. Frederiksen refuses to kowtow to him.<\/p>\n Just a few days ago, Ms. Frederiksen cited the 1951 agreement, saying, \u201cWe already have a defense agreement between the Kingdom and the United States today, which gives the United States wide access to Greenland.\u201d She urged the United States \u201cto stop the threats\u201d and said an American attack on Greenland would mean the end<\/a> of the international world order.<\/p>\n European leaders issued their own statement on Tuesday, also citing the 1951 agreement and saying, \u201cGreenland belongs to its people.\u201d<\/p>\n Analysts said that if the United States tried to use the defense pact as a fig leaf to send in a lot of troops and try to occupy Greenland, that wouldn\u2019t be legal either.<\/p>\n According to the 2004 amendment, the United States is supposed to consult with Denmark and Greenland before it makes \u201cany significant changes\u201d in its military operations on the island. The 2004 amendment, which was signed by Gen. Colin L. Powell, who was then the secretary of state, explicitly recognizes Greenland as \u201can equal part of the Kingdom of Denmark.\u201d<\/p>\n Peter Ernstved Rasmussen, a Danish defense analyst, said that in practice, if American forces made reasonable requests, \u201cthe U.S. would always get a yes.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cIt is a courtesy formula,\u201d he said. \u201cIf the U.S. wanted to act without asking, it could simply inform Denmark that it is building a base, an airfield or a port.\u201d<\/p>\n That\u2019s what infuriates longtime Danish political experts. If Mr. Trump wanted to beef up Greenland\u2019s security right now, he could. But there has been no such official American request, said Jens Adser Sorensen, a former senior official in Denmark\u2019s Parliament.<\/p>\n \u201cWhy don\u2019t you use the mechanism of the defense agreement if you\u2019re so worried about the security situation?\u201d he said, adding: \u201cThe framework is there. It\u2019s in place.\u201d<\/p>\n But Greenland\u2019s strategic location is not the only thing that has attracted Mr. Trump\u2019s inner circle. The enormous island has another draw: critical minerals, loads of them<\/a>, buried under the ice. Here, too, analysts say, the United States doesn\u2019t need to take over the island to get them.<\/p>\n Greenlanders have said they are open to doing business<\/a> \u2014 with just about anyone<\/a>.<\/p>\n