NEWS ANALYSIS: It wasn’t just the leaders of Denmark and Greenland who were stunned and angered by US President Donald Trump’s latest attempt at a land grab, just as the Christmas holidays were beginning. Norwegian officials were also irritated and quick to side with other Nordic and NATO allies, many of whom now feel threatened on several fronts by the country long viewed as their most important partner.
Trump escalated his offensive against Greenland on the grounds the US “needs” the huge Arctic island for its own national security. Trump denied that he’s mostly interested in Greenland’s mineral and oil resources, claiming instead that Russian and Chinese vessels in the Arctic pose a threat, even though the US has had military operations on Greenland for years and can work closely NATO allies in the area.
In addition to launching his new grab for Greenland, Trump also delivered an unwelcome surprise to top management at Norway’s state-owned oil and energy company Equinor just before Christmas. After great turmoil last spring, when Trump tried just before the Easter holidays to halt Equinor’s multi-billion Empire Wind project off New York City, his government is effectively withdrawing its operating licenses once again and jeopardizing billions of Equinor’s investment in renewable energy.
This time the reason is alleged interference of radar systems from the wind turbines about to be erected. The Trump Administration claims any such interference threatens the US’ national security, apparently ignoring how wind turbines have generated power right off Copenhagen’s large European hub airport at Kastrup for years. A total of five offshore wind projects that Trump doesn’t like have nonetheless been halted again, including the Danish Ørsted project Sunrise Wind that also involves Norway’s Equinor.
“We thought this had all been settled,” funds manager Trond Omdal told Norway’s leading business newspaper Dagens Næringsliv (DN) on the day before Christmas Eve. He noted that Equinor, in which the Norwegian government has a 67-percent stake, is now “in the midst of the largest investing period in the project.” Trump’s sudden license withdrawals spark major problems once again, and can lead to huge losses.
Equinor’s management stated that the company has worked closely with US authorities and claimed the project had complied with all “relevant” national security demands. They were “identified as part of the regulatory process” over the past several years, before Trump returned as president. Those now in charge at his defense department (which Trump recently renamed the Department of War) have clearly come with new demands.
The new challenges and uncertainty lodged by Trump against his own allies’ businesses and sovereignty also come just as European leaders including Norwegian Prime Minister Jonas Gahr Støre are firmly supporting Ukraine and its embattled president Volodomyr Zelensky. Trump has earlier tried to publicly humiliate Zelensky and been reluctant to confirm ongoing US support for the country that remains under constant attack by Russia.
Zelensky, fresh from new meetings and talks with European leaders including Støre, was due to meet with Trump at his lavish estate in Florida on Sunday for more talks regarding a ceasefire and, eventually, a peace treaty. Russia continued to attack Ukraine through the Christmas holidays and millions in the Kyiv area were without power over the weekend.
Norwegian officials remain concerned, meanwhile, about what a Trump takeover of Greenland could mean for its own Arctic areas under Norwegian control, including Svalbard. Norwegian defense forces have already worked closely with US forces in the Arctic for years, and have long been viewed as NATO’s “eyes and ears” regarding Russian activity in the area. Some wonder whether Trump, if he takes Greenland by force, will demand control over Norwegian areas as well.
Foreign policy experts and a wide range of Norwegian media commentators spent much of the holidays urging resistance to Trump’s revived effort to take over Greenland. They’re also concerned about his latest round of harsh criticism of Europe in general, and some, including researcher Hilmar Mjelde, see signals that Trump is trying to create a new world order.
“We’re on the way back to international policy as it was prior to 1945,” Mjelde told newspaper Dagsavisen last week. “It’s a world where the strongest take control. I take it for granted that the Norwegian government is preparing itself for whether its sovereignty over Svalbard can also become a theme.” Russia has also been asserting itself on Svalbard, and been accused of already launching various cyber attacks on the Arctic archipelago.
Instead of “making America great again,” meanwhile, the US is rapidly losing international respect under the unpredictable Trump. Sverre Diesen, a former Norwegian defense chief, wrote in DN last week that Trump’s new National Security Strategy represents “a break with everything the USA really is and has wanted to be.” It praises only authoritarian leaders or would-be leaders, criticizes NATO and presents the US as an unfriendly superpower. Putting “America first,” Diesen wrote, is “first and foremost about a USA that wants to earn money.”
Arild Moe, a senior researcher at Norway’s Fridtjof Nansens Institute, told state broadcaster NRK that Trump’s declaration that “the USA needs Greenland, reminds us of how Russia’s president thinks about Ukraine.” Moe equated Trump’s attempt to take over Greenland to “giving a gift to (Russian President Vladimir) Putin, because it’s creating division within the western alliance.”
Many others also view Trump as trying to do the same to Denmark and Greenland as Putin has done to Ukraine: Annex another country’s territory, and disrespect borders. Trump has refused to rule out use of military force if Denmark and Greenland (which has autonomous rule but legally remains within Danish territory).
Danish Foreign Minister Lars Løkke Rasmussen initially fought back by calling in the US ambassador in Copenhagen and expressing that he was “strongly” opposed to Trump’s appointment of a special envoy to Greenland. Rasmussen called Trump’s move “totally unacceptable,” while Danish Prime Minister Mette Fredriksen and Greenland’s government chief Jens-Frederik Nielsen stressed that “Greenland belongs to the Greenlanders and the USA shall not take it over. We expect respect for our territorial integrity.”
Official reaction was swift in Norway (which controlled Greenland itself during the Middle Ages), with Norwegian Foreign Minister Espen Barth Eide telling news bureau NTB that “Greenland is part of the Kingdom of Denmark. We fully support Danish authorities on this issue. Respect for national sovereignty and national borders is the overriding principle in the Rule of Law, and shall be respected by all countries.”
NewsinEnglish.no/Nina Berglund
