President Trump Wants Greenland

It’s been all over the news, almost nonstop, for some time now because of President Trump’s statements about the U.S. needing to take over Greenland for “national security” reasons. In the words of today’s youth, I can only say, “WTF?”

Don’t get me wrong. I’m still a Trump supporter but it’s getting harder and harder to justify some of his actions against his campaign promise of America First. I voted for him in 2016 and took pride in what he said he would do and his backing it up with what he accomplished during his first term. I characterize his first term as, “He promised it; he won it; he did it.” Watching America fall into the dismal state it did during the Biden Administration’s four years was sickening. I voted for him again in 2024 because I believed his campaign promises would be fulfilled like he did in his first term…and voting in Kamala Harris as President would have been a nightmare.

President Trump started strong with his crackdown at the border, eliminating most of the Biden initiatives that were to blame for most of the troubles facing America, his elimination of DEI initiatives, and his strengthening of the economy. After Biden’s disastrous border policy (or no border policy really), it’s hard to believe that we now have negative migration (more leaving than coming in). Even though I cringed at Trump’s flip-flop attitude concerning tariffs, who can argue that the United States should be treated fairly and equitably by our trading partners…and, based on statistics I have reviewed, his tariffs brought in $200 billion in his first twelve months in office (and that’s not including the massive amounts of investments promised by our foreign partners – which Trump claims is in the $21 trillion range but might really be somewhere between $7 and $9.7 trillion; which I still view as a great accomplishment). Biden was a joke to our foreign investment partners.

I wrote an earlier article on Trump’s successful capture of Venezuela’s Maduro, so you know my feelings on that military operation. He claimed it was to stop drug’s coming to the U.S. and Maduro’s treatment of the citizens of Venezuela but I think it’s clearer now that he wanted Venezuela’s oil. Now, on the heels of Maduro’s capture and rendition to the U.S., Trump has ramped up his rhetoric on the United States taking over Greenland; which has our NATO partners worried and many other countries shaking their heads.

Greenland is in the Arctic region. The Arctic region consists of territory across eight countries: the U.S., Canada, Iceland, Denmark, Norway, Sweden, Finland, and Russia. About 80% of Greenland is covered by ice and has around 56,000 residents. It is a former colony of Denmark and is now an autonomous territory of Denmark. Greenland is rich in minerals and home to two rare earth deposits that are among the biggest in the world. While the U.S. signed a Memorandum of Understanding with Greenland during Trump’s first term to explore joint projects, that MOU is nearing expiration since Biden could not get it extended. Trump even offered to purchase Greenland during his first term but was told that Greenland was not for sale. The U.S. has long suffered from a lack of rare earth minerals that are integral to many of our consumer goods, like cars, clothing, drugs, smartphones, and are especially important to our national defense – things like our fighter jets, submarines, guided missiles, drones, night vision devices, secure communication systems, and advanced radar systems. We are very, very dependent on China, who holds the majority of rare earth minerals today, and when China implemented export controls on rare earth minerals, Trump ramped up his talk of acquiring Greenland. So, yes, it’s about national security but like he said Maduro was about drugs when it was really about oil, Greenland is about minerals because America outsourced its defense to China.

Even though Denmark doesn’t have the military might or resources of the U.S., imagine this scenario: what if Denmark told the U.S. that Alaska is key to Denmark’s national security and offered to buy it? They would be told in no uncertain terms that it is not for sale. Likewise, if Denmark said they would annex Alaska through other means, maybe even military force, it would not be taken kindly. Greenland would welcome U.S. investment and partnership in mining rare earth and other minerals but nothing has really occurred. If the U.S. won’t invest in Greenland, their only other option may be to turn to other investors, like China. I’m hopeful our NATO allies would step up to invest in Greenland before they turn to China or Russia.

Let’s also not forget that the U.S. has a military base in Greenland going back to 1951. It seems to me that we could take some of the $200 billion in tariffs received last year to bolster our military base in Greenland and partner with Greenland and other NATO countries to invest in rare earth and other mineral mining in Greenland.

I won’t argue that Greenland is not important to the national security of the U.S., it certainly is given its location and wealth of rare earth minerals, and our failure to have a reliable source for rare earth minerals within the U.S. or from an ally country. However, there are good and bad ways to ensure America’s national security. It’s my opinion that Trump and the White House saying publicly that it is “discussing a range of options” to acquire Greenland and that using the U.S. military is not off the table is taking the bad way by threatening a NATO partner. We should do better than that.



Jerry Hashimura
Pahrump, NV

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