Vance’s Greenland visit: Why Trump is obsessed with this snow-clad island

Greenland is in the news since Donald Trump has once again taken over the presidency of the United States. Greenland is an autonomous territory of Denmark with a population of only around 60,000 people. However, the island has a vast geography with around 840,000 square miles of area; more than 80 per cent is covered either by ice caps or smaller glaciers.

In late March 2025, US Vice President JD Vance visited Greenland, accompanied by his wife, Usha Vance, US National Security Adviser Michael Waltz, and Energy Secretary Chris Wright. This visit has been globally perceived as a pressure tactic by Trump to advance his agenda of purchasing this autonomous Danish territory or compelling it to merge with the US.

Trump’s obsession with Greenland is not new. During his first term too, he had declared his interest in acquiring Greenland. Greenland’s newly elected Prime Minister Jens-Frederik Nielsen has made it clear that he will not hand over the territory to the US, and Greenlanders are happy with the existing political structures out there. It is too early to predict the possible fate of Greenland in coming years; however, Trump has made clear his administration’s agenda.

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The issue is, why is Trump so keen to take over Greenland? There could be multiple reasons behind this desire. Territorially speaking, the purchase of Greenland would make the US the second-largest country in the world by area. What is important for the US is not the size but the strategic importance of this region. It is about the rich mineral resources and the need for the US to have a continuous presence of military bases over there, mainly to cater to the missile defence requirements.

For centuries, Greenland has been largely covered by ice, making it difficult to estimate the value of its mineral resources accurately. As per some reports, the value could be at least $2.54 trillion. However, global warming leading to rapid glacier melt is now exposing the region’s mineral deposits. It has been found that this island is rich in deposits of rare earth elements (RREs), uranium, gold, hydrocarbons and other critical minerals like iron, oil, and uranium.

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According to the US Geological Survey (USGS), the region holds oil and natural gas reserves estimated at around 31 billion barrels. The US is aware that Greenland’s parliament has put a ban on uranium mining, and no hydrocarbon extraction-related activities are happening currently. Obviously, if the US wants to have the freedom to access and manage the mineral deposits, then it should be in the driver’s seat to decide on the policies.

There are some hidden surprises under the ice sheet of Greenland. During a scientific flight in April 2024, NASA scientists conducting surveys of Arctic ice sheets found an abandoned city under the ice. It was a Cold War-era US military base built by the military during the 1960s. The images revealed detailed structures of Camp Century, a series of tunnels carved directly into the ice sheet, previously hidden beneath layers of ice.

Camp Century was part of a secret Cold War project known as Project Iceworm, which aimed to construct around 4,000 km of tunnels for housing nuclear intermediate-range ballistic missiles (IRBMs) targeted at the Soviet Union. During the 1950s and 60s, for almost eight years, the construction for this site was undertaken, but finally the base was abandoned in 1967 due to the high costs and challenges of maintaining the tunnels within the shifting ice. Today, Camp Century site is helping researchers understand how the changing climate affects the ice sheet.

Even today, Greenland has relevance for the US military. The region plays a critical role in supporting the US space and missile defence capabilities. There is an operational space base at a place called Pituffik (formerly Thule Air Base), which is a cornerstone of the US military’s surveillance and defence infrastructure. Pituffik Space Base (SB), the Department of Defence setup, is operated by the 821st Space Base Group as part of the US Space Base Delta 1. It is an important US military hub for missile warning systems, satellite communications, and space operations. There are five specialised units, which cater for a range of activities from early warnings to managing satellite communications to Arctic scientific research.

Greenland is important for astronomical research too, owing to its peculiar location. There is the Greenland Telescope Project, which is playing a major role towards expanding our knowledge about the black holes. This telescope has a 12-metre antenna, which is standing in the Pituffik Space Base. Interestingly, this project is headed by Taiwan. Today, climate change-induced melting in Greenland is opening new, shorter shipping routes through the Arctic. This is likely to save travel time and hence would reduce the cost of operations.

It is important to realise that the Trump administration is not looking at Greenland for any immediate benefits. It would take a minimum of ten years for the US to establish a profitable infrastructure for mineral excavation, processing and developing effective supply chains. Also, for the US Space Force, more military installations are required to be developed to get maximum advantage of Greenland’s strategic location for monitoring and timely responding to any possible threat. For the US, Greenland has long-term strategic, military, and economic significance.

The author is Deputy Director General, MP-IDSA, New Delhi. The views expressed in the above piece are personal and solely those of the author. They do not necessarily reflect Firstpost’s views.