President Trump, Hemisphere Security, and the Greenland Connection

Key Chapter Title List

1. Trump and Hemispheric Security
2. The Evolution of Arctic Governance Landscape
3. The Strengthening of the Sino-Russian Strategic Alliance
4. The Dynamic Relationship Between Denmark and Greenland
5. The Strategic and Resource Importance of Greenland
6. Conclusion

Document Introduction

In December 2024, U.S. President-elect Donald Trump declared on social media that it was absolutely necessary for the United States to own and control Greenland for national security and world freedom. This statement, along with his remarks during the Christmas period about reasserting control over the Panama Canal and encouraging Canada to become the 51st state of the U.S., may appear capricious on the surface but actually reveals a coherent geopolitical logic. This report aims to deeply analyze the strategic intentions behind these statements, examining them within the broader context of the return of Trump's America First agenda, the evolving landscape of the Arctic region, and the intensification of great power competition.

The report first analyzes the implicit hemispheric security concerns in Trump's remarks. Linking Greenland, the Panama Canal, and Canada reflects a strategic review of the operational security of key maritime passages (such as the Northwest Passage, the Panama Canal, and the Drake Passage). The core logic is that America's current and future power base relies on maintaining energy dominance, increasing defense investment, and implementing a fortress-like defense of the Western Hemisphere. Trump's criticism of allies like Denmark and Canada for failing to meet defense spending obligations, and his accusations that the Panamanian government extorted U.S. operators and might allow Chinese military presence, all point to a concern: the U.S. cannot rely on weak allies to defend its own and NATO's interests and must directly control strategically valuable territories and chokepoints.

Compared to Trump's first term, the governance environment of the Arctic region has undergone significant changes. During the Biden administration, the face and feel of Arctic governance have become markedly different. A more critical change is the deepening of the Sino-Russian strategic alliance, whose influence extends to the polar regions and beyond. Simultaneously, the relationship between Denmark and Greenland is dynamic and highly sensitive. Trump suspects there is room for exploitable deals between the two and notes that the U.S. has been a key security provider for Greenland and Denmark since 1951. Furthermore, Greenland's strategic and resource importance is increasingly prominent. Its reserves of rare earth minerals appear even more valuable against the backdrop of escalating U.S.-China trade tensions and China's restrictions on the export of such minerals since 2023. New actors like Elon Musk's Starlink are also improving connectivity between the world's largest island and the outside world.

The report posits that a provocative interpretation of the Trump-Greenland incident is that it is merely business as usual for great power behavior. The proposal to acquire Greenland fundamentally stems from a fear that the U.S. may be unable to contain China and its plans to expand dominance in East Asia (including Taiwan) and beyond. Therefore, ensuring China cannot gain a foothold in the North American Arctic could be a core objective of this move. Comments from former National Security Advisor Robert O'Brien reinforce this view. He suggested that if Denmark cannot effectively defend Greenland (from third-party threats like China), the U.S. would expect to gain further economic and resource advantages through intervention for defense, even raising the possibility of Greenland becoming part of Alaska.

In summary, Trump's remarks concerning Greenland, the Panama Canal, and Canada are not isolated, random thoughts but concrete manifestations of his second-term America First geopolitical project within a hemispheric security framework. These statements reflect deep-seated anxieties about control over key regions, resource access, and ally reliability, as the U.S. perceives strengthened cooperation between China, Russia, and other nations across multiple domains. The Arctic, and particularly Greenland, is increasingly becoming a focal point in this narrative of great power competition.