EU to unveil boosted Greenland investment as Trump renews annexation push

European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen is expected to announce on Monday a significant increase in EU investment in Greenland along with closer political ties with the Danish Arctic territory. Von der Leyen arrived in Greenland on Sunday for a two-day visit intended as a show of support for the Greenlandic and Danish governments, which have firmly rejected US President Donald Trump's campaign to bring the world's largest island under American control.

The EU plans to invest in sectors such as critical minerals, satellite communications and renewable energy in Greenland, a semi-autonomous territory within the Kingdom of Denmark. Speaking in Nuuk on Sunday, von der Leyen said the upcoming package would be "substantial" but did not provide details. Greenland's Premier, Jens-Frederik Nielsen, said his territory wanted to build further on its "close friendship and good partnership" with the EU.

Growing strategic stakes in the Arctic

The visit underscores the Arctic's rising geopolitical importance to major powers including the United States, Russia, China and Europe, as melting ice creates new shipping routes and makes the region's mineral resources more accessible. On social media, von der Leyen described being struck by both Greenland's natural beauty and the visible effects of climate change on its ice sheet.

Earlier this year, Trump triggered strain in US-European relations by intensifying demands for the US to take control of Greenland, arguing that fellow NATO member Denmark was unable to defend it. European officials have pointed out that Greenland falls under NATO's mutual defence commitments and that the US already has treaty rights allowing it to expand its military presence there.

Tensions eased somewhat after Trump and NATO Secretary-General Mark Rutte agreed in January in Davos that the US, Denmark and Greenland would begin talks to resolve their dispute, with NATO also increasing its Arctic security role. Those trilateral talks, however, have not produced an agreement, and Trump repeated his demand for US control over Greenland at a NATO summit in Turkey in July. Although Denmark is an EU member, Greenland left the bloc in 1985; its residents, as Danish citizens, nonetheless remain EU citizens. The EU has long supported Greenland financially, primarily through fishing agreements and education funding, and the new package is expected to both substantially increase that funding and extend it to additional sectors.