the Voice of
The Communist League of Revolutionary Workers–Internationalist
“The emancipation of the working class will only be achieved by the working class itself.”
— Karl Marx
the Voice of
The Communist League of Revolutionary Workers–Internationalist
“The emancipation of the working class will only be achieved by the working class itself.”
— Karl Marx
Mar 31, 2025
Since Trump took over the White House, he has been ranting and raving about the U.S. government taking over Greenland. Since many people in Greenland have made it clear that they don’t want to be taken over by the U.S., Trump sent J.D. Vance to Greenland to make a veiled threat.
The Trump administration had first planned to send Vance’s wife to Greenland on a public relations tour, but they couldn’t find any people in Greenland who were willing to welcome her. So, Trump sent Vance himself. But Vance did not go anywhere near where any people of Greenland lived because they were planning protests against his visit. He instead went to a very remote U.S. military base in Greenland.
Why does the Trump administration want Greenland? Trump has talked about putting more military bases there because of its location and that certainly may be part of what he wants.
But the U.S. capitalists that Trump represents also see Greenland as a place to make more profits. Greenland has a wealth of metals like cobalt, nickel, copper, lithium, zirconium and other rare earth minerals that are used in the production of batteries, cellphones and electric vehicles. As global warming melts the glaciers and ice that covers most of Greenland, these minerals will become more profitable to extract.
The melting of Artic Sea ice also opens up of the possibility of shipping lanes north of the North American continent through what has been called the Northwest Passage. Shorter shipping lanes to and from Asia again means more profits for U.S. capitalists.
This is not the first time that the U.S. government has tried to take over Greenland. During World War II, the U.S. government put a military base in Greenland, forcibly ejecting the native people who lived there. The U.S. government has attempted several times to buy Greenland from Denmark, which for years held Greenland as a colony. But Denmark always refused.
Greenland later became a territory of Denmark. But the people of Greenland have expressed that they want to be independent. In a recent poll, 80% of the people of Greenland said they want to be independent of Denmark. And 85% of the people said they don’t want to be under the thumb of Trump and the U.S. government, either.