Good morning. Donald Trump’s recent outburst that it would be “unacceptable” if the US can’t gain control over Greenland continues to drag the world’s largest island into the centre of global geopolitics. The largely autonomous Danish territory, sparsely populated but strategically vast, sits between North America, Europe and Russia – and as the Arctic ice melts, its importance is growing fast.
Climate heating is shrinking the Arctic ice cap, opening up sea routes that were once the preserve of icebreakers and exposing valuable mineral resources beneath Greenland’s retreating ice sheet. Now what was once seen as a frozen backwater is being viewed increasingly as a strategic prize, helping to explain why Trump’s previously outlandish-sounding threats are being taken far more seriously in Europe’s capitals. They have begun to push back against his declaration of tariffs.
