Trump says US ‘needs’ Greenland for Arctic security. Here’s why

Key Highlights

• Greenland is a self-governing territory of Denmark, a longtime US ally that has rejected Trump’s overtures.
• Greenland’s own government also opposes US designs on the island, saying the people of Greenland will decide their own future.
• The island, 80 per cent of which lies above the Arctic Circle, is home to about 56,000 mostly Inuit people who until now have been largely ignored by the rest of the world.
• Here’s why Greenland is strategically important to Arctic security: Greenland’s Arctic location is key —————————————- Greenland sits off the northeastern coast of Canada, with more than two-thirds of its territory lying within the Arctic Circle.
• That has made it crucial to the defence of North America since World War II, when the US occupied Greenland to ensure it didn’t fall into the hands of Nazi Germany and to protect crucial North Atlantic shipping lanes.