🔗 Share this article

A key figure from Donald Trump's top aides has increased tensions on the Danish government by disputing Copenhagen’s claim to the vast Arctic island.

Military Intervention Dismissed

The president’s deputy chief of staff, stated emphatically military intervention would not be needed to take over the northern landmass because “no nation would engage the United States militarily over the future of Greenland”.

“The idea of military action against Greenland? Its population numbers just 30,000 inhabitants people,” Miller inaccurately claimed, the correct number being closer to 57,000.

Miller further proposed that Copenhagen lacks a valid claim to the territory, which is a former Danish colony and continues as a constituent country of the Danish kingdom.

Growing Tensions

These remarks follow a period of increasing friction between the two NATO allies after the US president’s renewed calls to acquire Greenland.

The Danish foreign policy committee has convened an emergency session to examine the kingdom’s relationship with the United States.

In his interview, Miller told CNN that control over Greenland could be achieved without armed conflict due to its small population.

Challenging Copenhagen's Rule

“The real question is on what grounds does Denmark have to assert control over Greenland? What legal foundation of their ownership claim?” he asked.

Miller continued: “As the leading power within the power of NATO. For the US to protect Arctic interests to defend NATO, it is logical that Greenland should be part of the US.”

There was, he said “no requirement to even think or talk about” a military operation in Greenland, reiterating: “Nobody is going to fight the US militarily.”

Global Responses

These statements came after Trump remarked recently, following other foreign policy actions, that the US needed Greenland “very badly”.

Denmark's leader, Mette Frederiksen, reacted by warning that an American aggression against a fellow alliance member would mean the end of the military alliance and “post-Second World War security”.

The island's own leader, Jens-Frederik Nielsen, issued a strong statement, calling on the US president to abandon his “fantasies about annexation” and labeled American rhetoric of being “wholly inappropriate”.

Background and Present Position

Miller’s comments came after his wife, a conservative commentator, posted a map on social media of Greenland under a US flag with the tag “SOON”.

When questioned on the social media post, he laughed and said: “This has represented the official stance of the US government since the beginning of this administration... Donald Trump has been explicit about that.”

Greenland remained a colony until 1953, when it was integrated of the kingdom of Denmark. The US has had a strategic installation there, critical to its ballistic missile early warning system.

Recently, there has been growing support for self-rule, particularly after disclosures about historical policies of Greenlandic people.

However, facing the prospect of Trump’s threat, Greenland in March formed a new unity government in a demonstration of solidarity, with its founding document declaring: “Greenland belongs to us.”