In January scenes of protesters gathered outside the Inatsisartut, Greenland’s parliament, in the capital Nuuk, made news around the world. Despite the bitter Arctic cold, protesters stood for hours, holding hand-painted placards declaring ‘Greenland is not for sale’ and wearing red baseball hats printed with the words ‘Make America Go Away’.
They were objecting to US President Donald Trump’s latest claims that the United States needs to ‘own’ Greenland for national security reasons. Acquiring the island, which is strategically positioned between the US and Russia, has long been an ambition of Trump, who claims it will help protect the US from Russian and Chinese missile attacks. Days into his second term last year, Trump even threatened military action to seize Greenland to gain access to its largely untapped critical minerals, including graphite, zinc and copper.
