Donald Trump’s renewed push for control of Greenland comes as Denmark announces a $2 billion Arctic defense upgrade. This upgrade points to the strategic value of an island that hosts America’s northernmost military installation and holds vast mineral wealth.

President-elect Trump’s talk of taking over or acquiring Greenland is highlighting bipartisan talks about the need to increase security around the Arctic island and boost defenses in the region.

President-elect Trump's talk of Canada as a "51st state" and annexing Greenland registered among national-security crowds as an "Oh, boy!" moment. Obnoxious, enticing, familiar. Why it matters: The darlings of Trump's current foreign policy fixation boast Arctic utility at a time when the icy region is heating up.

As the president-elect's call to buy—or take—a sovereign country moves from punchline to possibility, a look at the real stakes of the Arctic’s mounting cold war.

Donald Trump wants Greenland. The vast, sparsely populated Arctic island has been under Danish control for 300 years, but back in 2019, when he was last president, he floated the idea of buying it. He recently reiterated that,

Republican senators were cracking jokes and outright laughing at President-elect Donald Trump over his suggestions he's open to using military force in Panama and Greenland, as well as his flirtation with making Canada the 51st state.