During World War II, Greenland was considered rather important to the war efforts at the time, as, after the U.S. discovered the Nazis’ weather station there, they realized that Greenland was vulnerable to the Nazis’ control. Greenland also had the potential to be a mining reserve, and an ideal weather station to track conditions in Europe. America’s interest died down during and after the Cold War, but Trump has shown a fixation on the Danish property recently.
The Danish prime minister at the time gave the United States full military permission in Greenland as long as there was a threat from the Third Reich, the German Nazi rule during World War II. When the war ended, it seemed as though this wasn’t needed anymore. But Washington had other ideas. Now, with the advancement of nuclear weapons, and Greenland being located along the North Atlantic route between Russia and the eastern coast of the U.S., Greenland was thought to be an important military base that could be used as “the world’s largest aircraft carrier,” as a 1947 Time magazine article stated. Denmark wasn’t happy about this, but, with a Soviet threat arising in Europe at the time during the Cold War, the Scandinavian country obliged, as both the United States and Denmark were part of NATO, and agreed that Greenland would be used for defense purposes.
During the Cold War, the United States created the Thule air base in northwestern Greenland. It would serve as a strategic landing point for bombers and spy planes. However, after the Soviet Union collapsed in 1991, the Thule air base and many other smaller bases located on the island seemed useless. Therefore, many bases were closed over the next decade except Thule, now called Pituffik, which is a small base of roughly 150 personnel monitoring satellite communications and early warning systems.
Trump now claims that Russia and China have demonstrated interest in the Arctic land over natural resources, so his grandiose “Golden Dome” missile defense system is another reason why he finds that Greenland would be important. This ambitious project aims to protect America from nuclear missile threats from countries like Russia, China, Iran, and North Korea; however, this plan is highly expensive and hasn’t been executed just yet. In addition, some members of the U.S. Congress have questioned the threat of Russia and China to Greenland’s security.
Senate Intelligence Committee deputy chair Mark Warner, a Democrat from Virginia, said, “The only country that is, frankly, benefiting the most from this chaos are both Russia and China.” In fact, the Northern Sea Route is a shipping route that China and Russia have agreed to jointly develop over time. The first ship to take this path was a Russian commercial vessel in February 2021, traveling along Russia’s northern coast and through melting Arctic ice toward China. Also, although Greenland’s potential as a mining reserve is vast due to its many rare earth minerals, such as neodymium, which can be used in electric motors, the process of starting to mine there is expensive and not environmentally friendly.
Therefore, while the world’s largest island was once considered essential for defense during World War II and the Cold War, its strategic significance has shifted. Although Denmark continues to allow the U.S. to maintain military and resource access, Greenland’s long-term importance in 2026 remains uncertain.