Per Olsson, Socialistiskt Alternativ (ISA in Sweden)
(This article was first published on 8 January 2026)
After the acts of war against Venezuela and the kidnapping of the country’s president, US imperialism has announced that Greenland is its next target. “US President Donald Trump has discussed a range of options for acquiring Greenland, including the use of the military, according to the White House,” the British BBC reported on Wednesday (7 January).
The day before, Trump’s deputy chief of staff, Stephen Miller, had said that “it is obvious that Greenland is ours and that no one will fight the US military for Greenland.” In the same CNN interview, Miller said:
“We live in a world, in the real world, that is governed by strength, by force, and by power.”
These frighteningly threatening words sum up the brutal neo-colonialism that has become one with Trump 2.0 and which has its roots in the crisis of the capitalist system – a crisis that has resulted in increasing imperialist power struggles, militarism, and an increasingly violent hunt for natural resources, energy, profits, power, and prestige.
“Hence the inevitable striving of finance capital to expand its economic territory and even territory in general”. These are the words of the Russian revolutionary Lenin in his book, Imperialism, the Highest Stage of Capitalism. In the same book, Lenin writes that one of the hallmarks of monopoly capitalism, especially when competition on the world market is steadily intensifying, is an increasingly desperate hunt for raw materials, including potential ones. This hunt for finite resources is destroying many of the world’s countries and reducing them to colonies.
A mineral ‘gold rush’
Greenland, the world’s largest island, not only has enormous potential resources. Greenland is also located at the intersection of North America, Europe, and Asia, and its strategic location is only increasing as another catastrophe caused by capitalism – global warming – causes the ice to melt at an ever-faster rate. “Scientists have repeatedly sounded the alarm about the melting snow and ice on the island and warned that the loss of ice mass risks increasing greenhouse gas emissions and raising sea levels. But for mining companies, Greenland’s melting ice could facilitate the start of a mineral “gold rush”.
As Arctic ice melt increases, new trade routes are opening up, such as the Northern Sea Route and the Northwest Passage, which could drastically reduce transport times and drive down prices.
In addition, Greenland has unexplored mineral resources that are crucial for today’s technology, electric vehicles, renewable energy, and weapons. A 2023 survey conducted by the Geological Survey of Denmark and Greenland (GEUS) showed that 25 of the 34 minerals recognized by the European Commission as critical raw materials are found in Greenland. Among the rare earth elements are graphite and titanium. Significant deposits of lithium, uranium, and gold have also been found in Greenland. In addition to mineral resources, Greenland may also hold enormous reserves of oil and natural gas. A quarter of all undiscovered oil and natural gas may be located in the Arctic.
There are therefore both economic and military reasons, as well as naked power interests, behind Washington’s demand to seize Greenland.
Greenlanders caught in the crossfire
By taking control of Greenland, US imperialism wants to ensure that it has the upper hand in the imperialist race for the Arctic and to push back Chinese and Russian imperialism. Washington’s goal is clear: to keep Greenland within its sphere of influence, both economically and militarily.
Even if the price of taking control of Greenland includes a conflict with European imperialism, which is also actively participating in the race for the Arctic. “By taking Greenland, the US would gain sole access to important sea routes and the rare earth metals found under the ice sheet. It would control the North Atlantic, without European interference” (SVT, 5 January). However, all imperialist powers are united in their complete disregard for the environmental risks and the interests of the indigenous population.
It is up to Greenland’s approximately 57,000 inhabitants, most of whom are Inuit, to decide the future of the island, including whether Greenland should become independent. Today, they have limited self-government, the terms of which are dictated by the Danish authorities. Colonial rule, imperialist power struggles, the plundering of the island’s resources, and the militarization of the island prevent the population from exercising their democratic and national rights. In the struggle for a free Greenland, the people can only rely on their own strength and, not least, on the support and solidarity of workers in other countries. Especially from workers in the Nordic countries and the United States.
Greenland’s history is a long history of oppression. The island became a Danish colony in the 18th century and later gained the elements of self-government that exist today. The US has long had bases on the island, with up to 10,000 troops stationed there historically. Today, the troop strength has been reduced to a few hundred, but it can be quickly expanded. Under pressure from the Trump administration, the Danish government, led by the Social Democrats, has now launched plans to turn the island into a military fortress. In October, it was announced that an additional $4.2 billion would be invested in strengthening “security in the Arctic and North Atlantic, including Greenland” and that Denmark would purchase an additional 16 F-35 fighter jets from the US at a cost of $4.5 billion. All this was done to appease Trump. But, like other concessions from the Danish government and other EU governments, this has not stopped Trump.
At the latest summit on Ukraine in Paris earlier this week, French President Macron, German Chancellor Merz, Italian Prime Minister Meloni, Polish Prime Minister Tusk, Spanish Prime Minister Sánchez, British Prime Minister Starmer, and Danish Prime Minister Fredriksen signed a joint statement that included promises of new military initiatives in the Arctic under NATO’s umbrella and very cautious criticism of the US’s desire to seize Greenland.
“But was that really enough to dampen Trump’s ambitions? The answer came within a few hours: No,” commented the British BBC, adding that “Mette Frederiksen, Denmark’s Prime Minister, was under pressure from European colleagues not to provoke the US over Greenland.”
What happens next?
A large-scale US invasion of Greenland is not the most likely scenario in the short term. Rather, US imperialism will first try to gain control of the island through blackmail, threats of new tariffs and other punitive measures, and increased military presence. Or, as the RAND think tank writes: “The scenarios range from negotiated agreements to expanded US military presence or even unilateral intervention, each with escalating geopolitical risk. Any change would test NATO cohesion, reshape Arctic security, and provoke reactions from Russia and China.” But the latter still seems to be a long way off. So far, crisis-ridden Chinese imperialism and Russian imperialism have not expressed any willingness to respond to US imperialism’s plans for Greenland. Russian imperialism has not commented on them at all, while China has contented itself with statements against “US unilateralism.”
A US takeover of Greenland would drive a new wedge between the US and Europe, but would not necessarily mean the end of NATO as the Western powers’ military alliance. European capitalism will continue to depend on the US military and its arms industry.
In light of the past year, it would be dangerous to underestimate the threat posed by Trump. After the acts of war against Venezuela, US imperialism, whose military strength is far superior to that of other imperialist powers, has intensified its offensive.
But it would be equally wrong to dismiss the power and strength of mass struggle. The fact that governments around the world have bowed to Trump, and the triumphalism of US imperialism after its kidnapping of Maduro, should not be taken as evidence that Trump can act with impunity. Struggle and resistance against imperialism has an important role to play.
The image of invincibility that Trump wants to convey is hollow and a result of hubris that could result in US imperialism opening up too many fronts and ultimately overreaching itself. Furthermore, the economic upturn in the US, from which Trump has benefited, could quickly turn into a crisis, especially if the AI bubble bursts this year.
US imperialism overestimates its own strength but underestimates the power of the political backlash and popular reaction that its policies and actions will cause, both in the US and globally.
The year 2025 gave a glimpse of the resistance that awaits, with mass movements against corrupt and authoritarian regimes around the world. In the struggle against imperialism and capitalism, the seeds of another world – a socialist world – are sprouting. Now is not the time for despair and resignation, but for struggle and organization. Join the ISA and Socialist Alternative – join the struggle for a socialist world free from all oppression, violence, and degradation.
