It can happen here: It’s time to be concerned about Trump’s designs on Greenland

P. Whitney Lackenbauer

Adam Lajeunesse

Canadians are watching U.S. President Donald Trump’s obnoxious threats to annex Greenland, either by purchasing it or by military force if needed, with total disregard for Greenlanders’ rights or preferences.

This unprecedented act of aggression against a stalwart NATO ally should trouble us deeply.

First, there is the fake news from the president’s own mouth that “Greenland is covered with Russian and Chinese ships all over the place,” requiring the U.S. to take over Greenland “from the standpoint of national security.”

There are no such ships, plain and simple. This is pure invention.

Then there is the disinformation that the Kingdom of Denmark is not defending Greenland. It does so, reliably, as part of NATO.

In October, Denmark announced it was increasing defence spending by $4.2 billion to improve security in Greenland and the broader Arctic and North Atlantic. It also committed $4.5 billion to buy 16 additional F-35 fighter jets from the United States (bringing its F-35 fleet to 43) and accompanying “wingman” drones. The U.S. was only too happy to ink the lucrative deal with its NATO ally.

There is also the inaccurate claim that the U.S. is constrained in its ability to defend North America based on its current arrangements with Denmark and Greenland. The United States already has extensive military access and strategic capabilities in the region, with the 1951 Defense of Greenland Treaty granting the U.S. the right to “construct, install, maintain, and operate” military facilities on the island.

Trying a new angle recently, Vice-President JD Vance asserted that the U.S. needs to defend Greenland because of its crucial role in missile defence. Here, at least, there’s a kernel of truth. Pituffik Space Force Base is a primary hub in the U.S. ballistic missile defence system, with its early-warning radars, space surveillance systems, and satellite tracking facilities watching for missiles travelling over the Arctic. The irony is that the U.S. has always been responsible for the security of its own bases. If Pituffik is as risk, the U.S. can strengthen it.

Canadians should be concerned. The threat is Trump, guided by his “might makes right” philosophy, perceiving this matter as a real estate transaction with the superpower dictating the terms. U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio’s latest assertion that the Trump administration did not plan to invade Greenland, and would buy the island from Denmark instead, offers little comfort.

An American invasion of Greenland would mean the end of NATO. Europe would lose core collective security benefits, but so would the United States — although Trump and his advisers seem oblivious to this, or simply do not care.

This week, the only people cheering are in Beijing and Moscow, and perhaps misguided Americans who have succumbed to their own country’s disinformation about threats circling Greenland like fictitious sharks.

We cannot turn a blind eye to what is transpiring. As Sinclair Lewis reminded us in his 1935 novel, the belief that It Can’t Happen Here fosters a dangerous complacency that can lead to catastrophic consequences.

 Whitney Lackenbauer is a professor and Canada Research Chair at Trent University and network lead of the North American and Arctic Defence and Security Network. Adam Lajeunesse is an associated professor at St. Francis University and lead of the Canadian Maritime Security Network.