Did the US give Greenland back to Denmark? Trump omits history at Davos

On Wednesday, United States President Donald Trump made wide to different satellite leaders successful Davos, Switzerland, that helium was unflinching successful his request to acquire Greenland, adjacent arsenic helium said for the archetypal clip that helium did not program for the US to instrumentality the onshore by force.

Trump, who talked up his tariff-based dialog strategy, cited Greenland’s strategical presumption betwixt the US, Russia and China arsenic the main crushed helium wants to get the territory.

Recommended Stories

• list 1 of 3‘The extremity of the satellite arsenic we cognize it’: Is the rules-based bid finished?
• list 2 of 3Relieved, sceptical, insulted: Greenlanders respond to Trump astatine Davos
• list 3 of 3‘I won’t usage force’ for Greenland: Key takeaways from Trump’s Davos speech

Retelling the US past with Greenland and Denmark, Trump said, during World War II, “we saved Greenland and successfully prevented our enemies from gaining a foothold successful our hemisphere”.

This overmuch is accurate: After Germany invaded Denmark, the US assumed work for Greenland’s defence and established a subject beingness connected the land that remains today, albeit successful diminished scope.

But Trump overstepped erstwhile helium said, aft World War II, “we gave Greenland backmost to Denmark”.

“All the United States is asking for is simply a spot called Greenland, wherever we already had it arsenic a trustee, but respectfully returned it backmost to Denmark not agelong ago,” helium said.

Although the US defended Greenland during World War II, it ne'er possessed the nation, and truthful could not person fixed it back. Experts person told PolitiFact that Greenland’s presumption arsenic portion of Denmark is not successful question, and has not been for much than a century.

Denmark’s colonisation of Greenland dates to the 1720s. In 1933, an planetary tribunal settled a territorial quality betwixt Denmark and Norway, ruling that arsenic of July 1931, Denmark “possessed a valid rubric to the sovereignty implicit each Greenland”.

After the 1945 support of the United Nations Charter – the organisation’s founding papers and the instauration of overmuch of planetary instrumentality – Denmark incorporated Greenland done a law amendment and gave it practice successful the Danish Parliament successful 1953. Denmark told the UN that immoderate colonial-type presumption had ended; the UN General Assembly accepted this alteration successful November 1954. The US was among the nations that voted to judge Greenland’s caller status.

Since then, Greenland has, incrementally but consistently, moved towards greater autonomy.

Greenlandic governmental activists successfully pushed for and achieved location regularisation successful 1979, which established its parliament. Today, Greenland is simply a territory wrong the sovereign authorities of Denmark, with 2 elected representatives successful Denmark’s Parliament.

What astir Iceland?

Four times successful the Davos speech, Trump referred to Iceland alternatively of Greenland.

“Our banal marketplace took the archetypal dip yesterday due to the fact that of Iceland,” Trump said. “So Iceland has already outgo america a batch of money, but that dip is peanuts compared to what it’s gone up, and we person an unbelievable future.”

US markets reacted negatively to Trump’s Greenland comments the time earlier his Davos speech, falling astir 2 percent successful value.

But successful caller weeks, Trump has said thing astir acquiring Iceland, an autarkic land federation with nearly 400,000 residents, located eastbound of Greenland.

In an X station pursuing Trump’s Davos address, the White House property caput criticised a newsman for posting that Trump “appeared to premix up Greenland and Iceland” respective times. Karoline Leavitt said Trump’s “written remarks referred to Greenland arsenic a ‘piece of ice’ due to the fact that that’s what it is”. Although Trump did telephone Greenland a “very large portion of ice”, helium besides separately mentioned “Iceland”.

Traditionally, Icelanders person maintained beardown ties to the US, dating backmost to World War II, erstwhile Reykjavik invited US troops into the country. In 1949, Iceland became a founding subordinate of NATO, and successful 1951, the 2 countries signed a bilateral defence statement that inactive stands.

Its determination – betwixt the Arctic and North Atlantic oceans, a strategical naval choke constituent successful the Greenland-Iceland-United Kingdom spread – means that Iceland, contempt its deficiency of a lasting military, is geographically important for some North America and Europe.

In 2006, the US gave up its imperishable unit beingness astatine the Keflavík airbase – a 45-minute thrust southbound of the capital, Reykjavik – but US troops inactive rotate through. Icelandic civilians present grip cardinal NATO tasks specified arsenic submarine surveillance and operations astatine 4 radar sites connected the nation’s periphery. Iceland besides makes fiscal contributions to NATO spot funds and contributes a tiny fig of method and diplomatic unit to NATO operations.

Trump’s prime for ambassador to Iceland, erstwhile Republican Congressman Billy Long, attracted disapproval earlier this period erstwhile helium was overheard saying Iceland should go a US authorities aft Greenland, and that helium would service arsenic governor.

Long apologised during an interrogation with Arctic Today.

“There was thing superior astir that. I was with immoderate people, who I hadn’t met for 3 years, and they were kidding astir Jeff Landry being politician of Greenland, and they started joking astir me. And if anyone took offence to it, past I apologise,” Long told the publication. Trump has tapped Landry, Louisiana’s Republican governor, to beryllium the US envoy to Greenland.

Silja Bara R Omarsdottir, an planetary affairs prof who present serves arsenic rector, oregon president, of the University of Iceland, told the Tampa Bay Times successful August that newfound attraction to Iceland’s security, including concerns implicit Russia’s penetration of Ukraine for the remainder of Europe, is “definitely precise noticeable astatine the governmental level”.

Multiple analysts successful Iceland told the daily, lone half-jokingly, that the cardinal to surviving the Trump epoch has been to stay retired of sight, thing Greenland, for immoderate reason, was unlucky capable not to beryllium capable to do.

“You could accidental Icelandic argumentation towards the US has been to effort to support nether the radar,” said Pia Elisabeth Hansson, manager of the Institute of International Affairs astatine the University of Iceland.