The Global Showdown Over Greenland
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What is the main topic discussed in this episode?
I'm Katrin Benhold, host of The World, a daily newsletter from The New York Times. I spent 20 years reporting from more than a dozen countries, and it occurred to me one day, what kind of newsletter would I like to read? I don't live in the U.S. I want something especially for a global audience. The World is just that. Each weekday morning, we bring you the biggest stories, dispatches from my colleagues on the ground, and a few surprises. With video, too. The World Newsletter. Read the latest and sign up at nytimes.com slash the world.
From The New York Times, I'm Natalie Ketroef. This is The Daily.
For weeks, President Trump has been ratcheting up tensions across the world by claiming he would stop at nothing in his quest to seize Greenland from Denmark. Then on Wednesday, Trump appeared to back down, announcing that he'd agreed, at least for now, to an off-ramp. Today, my colleague Mark Landler on the dizzying ups and downs of Trump's Greenland gambit and why this whole saga may mark the beginning of a new world order. It's Thursday, January 22nd.
Mark, what a week this has been. Welcome to The Daily.
Thanks. It's great to be back.
So in the last couple of days, we've seen this incredible pressure build over Trump's desire and stated intention to take over Greenland. And then just today, Wednesday, we got this announcement that Trump and NATO had reached some kind of framework for a deal. And we don't know all that much about it, but just orient us. What do we know?
Well, as you said, we don't know a great deal. There appears to be the outlines of an agreement under which the U.S. would perhaps be granted some form of ownership or sovereignty, if you will, over small pockets of land in Greenland, probably U.S. military bases. And it appears that that would be something that would allow President Trump to claim what he has wanted all along, which is some American ownership of Greenland, while for the Danish government maintaining the reality of this situation, which is that this is Danish territory. So it appears to be something that Mark Rutte the NATO Secretary General is trying to craft that will somehow mollify Trump while sort of preserving Denmark's claim over Greenland, which was shaping up to be an unbreakable conflict between the United States and Denmark.
Mm-hmm. How it all shakes out, very unclear. For those of us that have covered Trump in the past, we know that these dramas tend to have multiple acts. And what you find out in Act One often changes radically into Act Two and Act Three. But it does appear on the face of it that the Europeans have managed to edge Trump away from, you know, a rather dangerous cliff edge on this whole issue.
And the upshot is, at least as far as we know for now, that they've reached some kind of agreement that falls way short of the United States owning all of Greenland. But there is some kind of compromise that's been made. So it's been a head spinning day. It's been a head spinning week. Let's talk about how we got to this point. Why does Trump want Greenland so badly? Can you explain that?
Well, I guess I would answer that on two levels.
What sparked President Trump's interest in Greenland?
I think Donald Trump wants Greenland, in a sense, coming from his background as a real estate developer. He wants to acquire territory for the United States. Greenland would be a larger new acquisition for the United States in square miles than the Louisiana Purchase, than Alaska, than some of the other major expansions of the United States. So that's on a very visceral level. It's simply about expanding the footprint of the country while he is president. Right. But there's also a more strategic argument here. And that argument is that Greenland sits in a very contested part of the world in the Arctic. It sits atop these very valuable minerals known as rare earth minerals. For that reason, other countries are going to become increasingly interested in Greenland, the Russians, the Chinese.
And Trump's argument, in short, is we need Greenland. We need Greenland as a frontline place to protect U.S.
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Chapters
5 chapters
1
What is the main topic discussed in this episode?
0:00–3:59
2
What sparked President Trump's interest in Greenland?
3:59–9:39
3
What was the recent announcement regarding Greenland and NATO?
9:39–23:41
4
Why does President Trump want to acquire Greenland?
23:41–28:48
5
What strategic advantages does Greenland offer to the U.S.?
28:48–34:56