August 24, 2019
Here’s How Trump Should Have Approached Greenland
The United States can build on its strategic toehold without buying the entire country.
The news that U.S. President Donald Trump was pushing to purchase Greenland probably didn’t take its government entirely by surprise. The United States has long harbored designs on the island—and unlike in the years after the Cold War, when Greenland receded from the geopolitical forefront, climate change has put Greenland, Iceland, and other Arctic nations back on the front pages. New sea routes are opening up through the Arctic, and mineral-rich areas of Greenland are becoming economically accessible.
Trump is not wrong about Greenland’s importance to the United States. But in his fumbling and flippant attempts to buy it, and thereby gain the United States an expanded strategic purchase, he has achieved the opposite effect, needlessly closing the door on more conventional paths to a larger U.S. presence there and insulting Denmark, one of the United States’ closest allies.
Read the full article in Foreign Policy.
More from CNAS
-
The Future of European Integration Hinges on Poland
Commentary
If Poland left the camp of the EU’s spoilers and renewed its adherence to the bloc’s legal order, it would have knock-on effects far beyond the EU-Poland relationship....
By Nicholas Lokker
-
European Integration’s New Geopolitical Momentum
Commentary
Offering more tangible benefits of accession prior to full membership will both keep candidate countries motivated to continue reforms and allow for a more gradual adjustment ...
By Nicholas Lokker
-
Can Macron Play Nice with Other Europeans?
Commentary
To fully realize his ambitions for the bloc during his second term, macron will need to take greater care to forge consensus across eu member states, rather than repeating his...
By Nicholas Lokker
-
Macron vs. Le Pen Redux, with Célia Belin and Ben Haddad
Podcast
What can we expect from the final round of the French presidential election? The possibility of a Le Pen presidency poses major concerns for the future of the European Union a...
By Andrea Kendall-Taylor, Jim Townsend, Célia Belin & Benjamin Haddad
