President Donald Trump’s first floated the idea that the United States should acquire Greenland, a massive, ice-covered territory controlled by Denmark in the Arctic, in 2019.
Now, after what his administration touted as a successful covert operation to apprehend and arrest Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro, Trump doubled down on his desire to bring the world’s largest island into America’s orbit, with the White House saying the territory is vital to U.S. national security interests.
However, some experts argue that a deal involving Denmark selling or ceding territory to the United States would be costly and unnecessary, particularly since the U.S. already has extensive access — both militarily and economically — to Greenland through a Cold War-era agreement.
“The door is already wide open,” said Mai’a Cross, dean’s professor of political science, international affairs and diplomacy at Northeastern University, and an expert on international relations, space diplomacy and European security. “The U.S. has an open invitation to increase the size of its military base and potentially have other military bases there.”
It’s through that agreement, called the Defense of Greenland Agreement, that the U.S. can widely deploy forces and equipment to provide for the “collective defense” of the territory, as well as the broader North Atlantic Treaty region — a defense network that includes the U.S. mainland.
Read more on Northeastern Global News
