President Donald Trump has once again jolted the foreign-policy establishment—this time by elevating Greenland from a quiet Arctic outpost into a front-line strategic priority. What many initially dismissed as rhetorical bravado has evolved into a serious geopolitical argument rooted in national security, great-power competition, and resource control.
From Trump’s perspective, Greenland is not about symbolism. It is about leverage.
Greenland’s value begins with geography. Sitting between North America and Europe, the island occupies a commanding position over the Arctic and North Atlantic. The United States already operates Thule Air Base there, a critical node in America’s missile-warning and space-tracking systems.
Trump’s view is blunt: if the United States does not secure Greenland’s future alignment, adversaries will try to exploit it.
New shipping lanes, surveillance routes, and military corridors are opening—routes Russia and China are actively studying. In Trump’s strategic calculus, Greenland is not peripheral; it is central.
Trump frames Greenland as an extension of homeland defense. Ballistic missile trajectories from Eurasia pass over the Arctic. Early-warning systems stationed in Greenland give the U.S. precious minutes in a crisis.
Beyond security, Greenland holds vast deposits of rare earth elements and critical minerals essential for defense systems, electronics, and emerging technologies. Trump views Greenland as part of a broader effort to reduce Western dependence on Chinese-controlled supply chains.
European leaders, particularly Denmark, reject any notion of a transfer of sovereignty, emphasizing Greenlandic self-determination and NATO cooperation. Many U.S. lawmakers also warn that aggressive rhetoric could strain alliances.
Trump’s Greenland strategy reflects a larger truth about his presidency: he thinks in maps, not communiqués. Territory, resources, and positioning matter more to him than diplomatic sensibilities.
Whether Greenland ever changes hands is uncertain. What is clear is that Trump has forced Washington and its allies to confront the Arctic as a serious arena of global competition. Interestingly China, and Russia have been doing what is called bathymetric surveys.
A bathymetric survey measures and maps the depths and underwater terrain (seafloor, riverbed, lakebed) of water bodies, creating a detailed picture of the submerged landscape with contours and elevations, similar to how land surveys map dry ground. This data is crucial for navigation, flood control, engineering, and environmental studies, using technologies like sonar, GPS, and sometimes drones to capture precise depth and location data.
What it measures:
- Water Depth: Precise measurements from the surface to the bottom.
- Underwater Features: Maps features like ridges, canyons, reefs, and man-made structures.
- Terrain: Creates contour lines (isobaths) showing the shape and slope of the bottom.
- Water Properties: Can include shoreline definition, currents, and wave action.
My take is simple, it is strategic for the U.S. What began as a strange comment by Trump on the purchase has now blown into a big “deal”. No pun intended. Not sure what will happen, but probably some sort of agreement to increase American forces, and or security. There is no secret, at least from me, that the European Union can’t be trusted to hold up it’s end of NATO. At times Trump seems to talk when he shouldn’t, but sometimes he is setting the stage for something bigger. Rh
Christian Conservative Coalition 