less than one in five respondents<\/a>\u00a0support the idea of acquiring\u00a0Greenland.<\/p>\nWhy does Trump want Greenland?<\/h2>\n
The location and natural resources of the island make it strategically important for Washington.<\/p>\n
Greenland is geographically part of North America, located between the Arctic Ocean and the North Atlantic Ocean. It is home to 56,000 residents, mostly Indigenous Inuit people.<\/p>\n
Greenland\u2019s capital, Nuuk, is closer to New York City \u2013 about 2,900km (1,800 miles) away \u2013 than the Danish capital, Copenhagen, located 3,500km (2,174 miles) to the east.<\/p>\n
It is a NATO territory through Denmark and an EU-associated overseas territory with residents holding EU citizenship.<\/p>\n
Its location offers the shortest air and sea routes between North America and Europe, making it strategically vital for US military operations and missile early-warning systems. Washington has also sought more radar coverage around the Greenland-Iceland-UK gap to monitor Russian and Chinese movements.<\/p>\n
Greenland is rich in minerals, including most of the EU\u2019s listed \u201ccritical raw materials\u201d, but there is no oil and gas extraction, and many Indigenous residents oppose large-scale mining. The economy mainly depends on fishing.<\/p>\n
As climate change opens up more of the Arctic, major powers such as the US, Canada, China and Russia are increasingly interested in its untapped resources.<\/p>\n
How has Europe responded to Trump\u2019s tariff threats?<\/h2>\n
All 27 members of the EU will convene for an emergency meeting on Sunday to discuss their response to Trump\u2019s threat.<\/p>\n
UK Prime Minister Keir Starmer responded in a post on X on Saturday, saying:\u00a0\u201cOur position on Greenland is very clear \u2013 it is part of the Kingdom of Denmark and its future is a matter for the Greenlanders and the Danes,\u201d Starmer wrote.<\/p>\n
\u201cApplying tariffs on allies for pursuing the collective security of NATO allies is completely wrong. We will of course be pursuing this directly with the US administration.\u201d<\/p>\n
European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen also responded in an X post, saying: \u201cThe EU stands in full solidarity with Denmark and the people of Greenland. Dialogue remains essential, and we are committed to building on the process begun already last week between the Kingdom of Denmark and the US.<\/p>\n
\u201cTariffs would undermine transatlantic relations and risk a dangerous downward spiral. Europe will remain united, coordinated, and committed to upholding its sovereignty.\u201d<\/p>\n
European Council President Antonio Costa shared a post identical to von der Leyen\u2019s on his own X account.<\/p>\n
EU foreign policy chief Kaja Kallas wrote on X: \u201cChina and Russia must be having a field day. They are the ones who benefit from divisions among Allies.\u201d<\/p>\n
Kallas added: \u201cTariffs risk making Europe and the United States poorer and undermine our shared prosperity.\u201d<\/p>\n
David van Weel, the foreign minister of the Netherlands, said during an interview on Dutch television on Sunday: \u201cIt\u2019s blackmail what he\u2019s doing, \u2026 and it\u2019s not necessary. It doesn\u2019t help the alliance [NATO], and it also doesn\u2019t help Greenland.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/div>\n
<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
United States President Donald Trump has promised to steadily increase tariffs on European countries that have opposed his move to acquire Greenland, escalating a dispute over the semiautonomous Danish territory he has long coveted. So what is behind Trump\u2019s push to control Greenland, the world\u2019s largest island, and how have Washington\u2019s NATO allies responded? What […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":9086,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[9],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-9085","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-explained"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/inernews.online\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/9085","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/inernews.online\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/inernews.online\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/inernews.online\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/inernews.online\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=9085"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/inernews.online\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/9085\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/inernews.online\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/9086"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/inernews.online\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=9085"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/inernews.online\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=9085"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/inernews.online\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=9085"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}