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Denmark announced a major new package to boost Greenland’s security in a move the Danish defense minister called “ironic” because it came just two days after President-elect Trump demanded US ownership of the arctic island
The Danish Minister of Defence, Troels Lund Poulsen he told the Danish newspaper Jyllands-Posten on Tuesday that Copenhagen plans to spend the equivalent of about $1.5 billion on the new defense package.
“For many years we have not invested enough in the Arctic, now we are planning a stronger presence,” he told the company.
Poulsen explained that the package was planned in advance and it was “ironic” that it coincided with Trump’s call for control of the island.
He also said Denmark was willing to “work with the US” to secure Greenland.
The package includes two Thetis-class patrol boats, two long-range drones, two sled dog teams and more Danish military personnel in Greenland, according to Jyllands-Posten.
Trump, in a Truth Social post on Sundayhe said that American ownership and control of Greenland was an “absolute necessity” for reasons of national security.
In his first term, Trump had also called for the purchase of Greenland in a move that sparked tensions between Washington and Copenhagen.
Greenland Prime Minister Mute Egede defiantly responded to Trump in a Monday Facebook post.
“Greenland is ours. We are not for sale and we will never be for sale. We must not lose our long struggle for freedom,” Egede wrote, although he also signaled an openness to cooperation and trade.
Greenland is an autonomous region, but is still under the control of Denmark, which handles matters of defence, security and foreign policy.
The Arctic is an important sphere of national security for the US seeks to counteract growing Russian and Chinese influence in a region that is opening up more as climate change melts ice and creates new roads.
The US is too working closely with Arctic allies such as Canada and Finland to build more patrol vessels that can sail through the region, and this week the Coast Guard announced work had been approved for the first new heavy polar icebreaker in more than five decades.
Denmark is also a member of the Western security alliance NATO and a partner of the US in the Arctic region.
Trump, who takes office on January 20, campaigned on restoring world peace and security and pledged to end the wars in Ukraine and the Middle East.
In addition to Greenland, Trump also said the US should have control of the Panama Canal, which has been owned and operated by Panama since 1999. The US helped build the canal and operated the waterway, which is vital to world shipping for most of the 20th century. century
Trump has also joked about making Canada the 51st state.
