At the World Economic Forum in Davos, President Trump withdrew his threat to use the military to take control of Greenland. He said he did not need to use military force and later announced that the US had agreed on the “framework of a future deal” with NATO. Denmark, Greenland and our European allies have rejected any US attempt to acquire the island.
Contrary to President Donald Trump’s views, the US does not need to own Greenland to defend it. For decades, our national security has been strengthened by cooperative agreements with Greenland, Denmark and other NATO countries dating back to World War II.
During World War II, the Nazis occupied Denmark and had a military outpost in Greenland. The US expelled the Nazis from Greenland and established military bases on the island. In 1951, the US entered into an agreement with the Danish government that provided for joint defense, and throughout the Cold War the US maintained military facilities on the island. In 2004, the agreement was updated to give the Greenland government more control over the impact of U.S. military operations on its citizens.
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In recent decades, the US, working with the Danish and Greenland governments, has maintained a limited military presence on the island. Under these agreements, the US has broad discretion in conducting military operations in Greenland for national defense. Danish and Greenlandic citizens are now asking the obvious question: if President Trump wants to strengthen the US military presence in Greenland, why doesn’t he do so within the framework of existing agreements?
One argument used by President Trump is that the US must own Greenland to safeguard the island’s rare earth deposits. The pretext for this claim is China’s decision to impose export controls on their rare earth producers. The fact is that in recent years the US has significantly reduced its dependence on Chinese rare earth minerals. Greenland has significant reserves of rare earth minerals. However, access to these rare earth minerals is limited by both the technology and the limited downstream facilities required to commercialize rare earth minerals. It will take many years to explore, develop and commercialize Greenland’s rare earth minerals.
Greenland must maintain control of its rare earth minerals and develop these resources for the benefit of its people. The proven way to do this is to trust the markets, not politics. Greenland should provide leases to multinational companies in a competitive market. These leases could generate royalties and revenue for Greenland based on market conditions. Greenland should put this royalty income into a sovereign wealth fund for the benefit of its citizens. The precedent for such a sovereign wealth fund is the one created in Norway: the Norwegian Government Pension Fund. The creation of a sovereign wealth fund could ensure that these revenues benefit the Greenlandic people and not elites, special interests or foreign interests.
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The U.S. should support this approach to rare earth exploration and development in Greenland because it is in our national interest. In the long term, Greenland, like Norway, could become an important partner in NATO. President Trump must pursue policies to strengthen NATO, not undermine it. Greenland and Denmark remain committed to this cooperative approach.
William Owens is a former Vice Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff. He is on the board of the Prosperity for US Foundation.
