On January 18, Treasury Secretary Scott Besent affirmed that Greenland is an essential factor for US defense in the upcoming "War on the Arctic", emphasizing that Washington will not "conceive national security to another party".
Mr. Bessent believes that the US is currently the world's leading military power, while Europe is revealing certain limits. According to him, European countries are still not capable of taking on the role of containing Russia in the conflict in Ukraine, thereby strengthening the argument that the West is unlikely to guarantee security for Greenland on its own.
According to Mr. Bessent, European leaders will eventually gradually accept Washington's position as well as the need to continue to rely on security assurances from the US, once again taking the example from the situation in Ukraine.
What will happen in Ukraine if the US withdraws support? Everything will collapse" - Minister Bessent said and said that considering Greenland and NATO as two opposing options is an unrealistic approach.
US President Donald Trump has long pursued the goal of bringing Greenland - a Danish autonomous territory with about 56,000 people - under US control, arguing that this island is of key significance to US defense capabilities against Russia and China.
This move has increased serious rifts between Washington and its European NATO allies, which oppose any changes to Greenland's status and warn that pressure from the US weakens international law as well as the union's unity.
Amid escalating tensions, Mr. Trump continues to threaten to impose taxes on 8 European countries opposing the Greenland plan. The EU has expressed support for Denmark and is considering retaliatory measures, even though Germany has withdrawn its small force from the island in the midst of confrontation.
Meanwhile, Russia, a country with a large presence in the Arctic but thousands of kilometers from Greenland, called this situation "abnormal", while emphasizing that Moscow recognizes Greenland as the territory of Denmark.
