The recent comments by President elect Donald Trump on the purchase and potential military takeover of Greenland, the Panama Canal and absorption of Canada have been purposely designed to invoke the Monroe Doctrine 1823 (Effective American control of the Americas), in order to exact concessions on national security and expand American dominance, preventing any attempts by the Chinese, Russians or even the Europeans from threatening her strategic advantage in the region and access to its rich mineral and oil deposits which would be a game changer with regards to the challenge from China.
Out of the three, Canada and the Panama Canal are merely diversions, and it is the issue of Greenland which has provoked the most controversy, although its targeting by America for purchase as a key strategic asset is not new or unique to Trump and has precedence in American history. The US has long maintained a security interest in Greenland. In 1867, after buying Alaska from Russia, US Secretary of State William H Seward led negotiations to buy Greenland from Denmark, but failed to reach any agreement. In 1946, the US offered to pay $100m (equivalent to $1.2bn; £970m today) for the territory, judging that it was vital for national security, but the Danish government refused.
Greenland is not only strategic in relation to the Arctic and its oil resources, which Russia also has access to, but Greenland is itself rich in minerals and rare earth metals, which are critical to the development of the military and advanced technology. China dominates access to these rare metals and hence American capture of the territory would constitute a significant economic, military and technological advantage. Moreover, Greenland is part of NATO through the membership of Denmark, and therefore has strategic significance for the U.S. military and for its ballistic missile early-warning system since the shortest route from Europe to North America runs via the Arctic island.
On this occasion however, the incendiary rhetoric by Trump is designed to provide official cover for the Danish government to look strong in public by rejecting Trumps demands to sell or takeover Greenland by using the “will” of the Greenlanders, rather that of Denmark as the stumbling block, with the Island’s Prime Minister, Múte Egede allowed to publicly call for independence from Denmark stating, “the status quo is not an option…We don’t want to be Danish, we don’t want to be American, we want to be Greenlandic…”(FT 10/01/25).
However, despite the counter bluster from the Danish side that Greenland is “not for sale”, the Danes have recognition of American interests in the region and have been working with the Americans to block Chinese and Russian interests. This is because both Denmark and the Europeans are also acutely aware that the defence of Greenland and the Arctic from Chinese and Russian influence very much requires the involvement of the Americans as Denmark does not have the military or financial capability to protect its interests with the UK Financial Times revealing that “Danish ministers have conceded that they have not invested enough in the defence of Greenland, where they have only four ships, a surveillance aircraft, and some dog sled patrols. They have pledged upto $2bn in additional investments, but the officials said privately that they are dependant on NATO and the US military to protect the Island fully” (FT 10/01/25).
Hence, why Denmark’s Prime Minister Mette Frederiksen left the door open for American influence over Greenland by giving recognition to Greenland’s “independence” movement in stating that Greenland’s desire for independence was “legitimate and understandable”, while calling US interest in the autonomous territory “positive” (FT 10/01/25) and further emphasising that “It’s positive for us to see the increasing US interest around Greenland . . . There is a need for closer co-operation on investments and business, and the exploitation of minerals “(FT 10/01/25).
This co-operation already exists as Chinese companies have tried to invest in Greenlandic airports and in several mining projects, but have been rebuffed by the US and Denmark. The alliance between the US and Denmark in preventing Chinese expansion was exposed by the news agency Reuters on 09/01/25 when it reported that U.S. and Danish officials lobbied the developer of Greenland’s largest rare earths deposit (Tanbreez) last year not to sell its project to Chinese-linked firms, its CEO told Reuters, adding that it has been in regular talks with Washington as it reviews funding options to develop the islands critical minerals. According to Reuters,
“Greg Barnes, CEO of privately held Tanbreez Mining, said U.S. officials who visited the project in southern Greenland twice last year had repeatedly shared a message with the cash strapped company: do not sell the large deposit to a Beijing-linked buyer” (09/01/25).
Barnes ultimately sold Tanbreez to New York-based Critical Metals and according to Tony Sage CEO of Critical Metals who told Reuters, “There was a lot of pressure not to sell to China… Barnes accepted payment of $5 million cash and $211 million in Critical Metals stock for Tanbreez, far less than Chinese firms offered (9/01/25)
From this it can be observed that there is a strategic complicity between the American’s and Denmark with regards to the protection of Greenland and the Arctic region from Russian and Chinese influence. The rhetoric by Trump is designed to allow Denmark to look strong whilst behind the scenes capitulating to American pressure, expansion and interests.
As for the issue of the Panama Canal and Canada, these are mere diversions and restatements of American primacy in it backyard by using the Chinese threat as legitimacy. It was a clear message that the Americas belong to America and the Monroe Doctrine which was formulated in 1923 as a warning to the Europeans at the time not to interfere in the hemisphere is still very much in play and is now subject to Trumps notion of “America First”. This is not new, but a continuation of Trump’s aggressive position on the Monroe Doctrine from his first Presidential term when in 2018 he declared to the UN General Assembly that;
“Here in the Western Hemisphere, we are committed to maintaining our independence from the encroachment of expansionist foreign powers…It has been the formal policy of our country since President Monroe that we reject the interference of foreign nations in this hemisphere and in our own affairs.”
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