In January 2026, U.S. President Donald Trump began making increasingly brazen demands that Denmark had to hand over control of Greenland. That included vague threats that the United States might use military force to make that happen. “We have to have it,” he told reporters. “We are going to do something on Greenland whether they like it or not.”
Why does the U.S. “have to have” Greenland? Because of China, of course.
Later, Trump posted on his Truth Social account: “The United States needs Greenland for the purpose of National Security. It is vital for the Golden Dome that we are building. NATO should be leading the way for us to get it. IF WE DON’T, RUSSIA OR CHINA WILL, AND THAT IS NOT GOING TO HAPPEN!”
He concluded that Greenland should be “in the hands of the United States. Anything less than that is unacceptable.”
In other contexts, Trump has spoken more directly about the Russian and Chinese threat to Greenland.
“If you take a look outside of Greenland right now, there are Russian destroyers, there are Chinese destroyers and bigger,” he claimed. “We’re not gonna have Russia or China occupy Greenland, and that’s what they’re going to do if we don’t.”
There are a lot of problems with Trump’s Greenland obsession, but let’s start with this: the “threat” from China, in particular, simply doesn’t exist. Trump threatened to take the United States to war against its NATO allies over an imagined problem.
Today, we’ll look at the facts of China’s military and economic presence in Greenland, why the territory matters in the grand strategies of both the U.S. and China, and – most importantly – how Trump’s obsession with Greenland could actually create the result he is so afraid of.
