Denmark announced a major new package to boost the security of Greenland in a move the Danish defense minister called “ironic” because it came just two days after President-elect Trump called for U.S. ownership of the Arctic island.
Danish Defense Minister Troels Lund Poulsen told the Danish newspaper Jyllands-Posten on Tuesday that Copenhagen plans to spend the equivalent of around $1.5 billion in 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 outlet.
Poulsen explained 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 U.S.” 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 Sunday, said U.S. ownership and control of Greenland was an “absolute necessity” for national security reasons.
In his first term, Trump had also called for buying Greenland in a move that sparked tensions between Washington and Copenhagen.
Greenland’s Prime Minister Múte Egede responded with defiance to Trump in a Monday Facebook post.
“Greenland is ours. We are not for sale and will never be for sale. We must not lose our long struggle for freedom,” Egede wrote, though he also signaled an openness to cooperation and trade.
Greenland is a self-governing region but is still within the control of Denmark, which handles matters of defense, security and foreign policy.
The Arctic is a major sphere of national security as the U.S. is looking to counter growing Russian and Chinese influence in a region that is opening up more as climate change melts ice and creates new pathways.
The U.S. is also working closely with Arctic allies like Canada and Finland to build more patrol ships that can navigate 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 U.S. partner in the Arctic region.
Trump, who is set to take office on Jan. 20, campaigned on restoring world peace and security, pledging to end wars in Ukraine and the Middle East.
Besides Greenland, Trump also said the U.S. should have control of the Panama Canal, which has been owned and operated by Panama since 1999. The U.S. helped build the canal and operated the waterway, which is vital for world shipping, for most of the 20th century.
Trump has also joked about making Canada the 51st state.
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