{"id":56825,"date":"2026-01-13T09:45:33","date_gmt":"2026-01-13T09:45:33","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/new.igihe.com\/trump-says-he-wants-ownership-of-greenland-because-it-s-psychologically\/"},"modified":"2026-01-13T10:22:14","modified_gmt":"2026-01-13T10:22:14","slug":"trump-says-he-wants-ownership-of-greenland-because-it-s-psychologically","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/new.igihe.com\/english\/trump-says-he-wants-ownership-of-greenland-because-it-s-psychologically\/","title":{"rendered":"Trump says he wants \u201cownership\u201d of Greenland because it\u2019s \u201cpsychologically important\u201d to him"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>Trump made the comments in a January 7, 2026, interview with The New York Times, where he emphasised that simply having a military presence on the island is not enough for him.<\/p>\n<p>Trump argued that owning Greenland outright would provide strategic and psychological advantages that cannot be achieved through existing agreements or leases. Greenland, an autonomous territory of Denmark with significant self\u2011government, already hosts a U.S. military presence under a Cold War\u2011era defence agreement, but Trump said that \u201cownership gives you a thing that you can\u2019t do\u201d through those arrangements.<\/p>\n<p>When asked by a New York Times reporter whether it was psychologically important to him personally or to the United States as a whole, Trump responded without hesitation that it was \u201cpsychologically important for me.\u201d He added, \u201cMaybe another president would feel differently, but so far I\u2019ve been right about everything.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>In the interview, Trump also hinted that he would be willing to consider using military force if necessary to acquire the Arctic territory, though he acknowledged that such action \u201cmight upset NATO,\u201d since Greenland is part of the Kingdom of Denmark, a NATO member.<\/p>\n<p>The idea of owning Greenland has drawn widespread criticism from both allies and experts. Danish Prime Minister Mette Frederiksen reiterated Denmark\u2019s commitment to Greenland\u2019s sovereignty and self\u2011determination, and many European leaders have rejected the notion of a U.S. takeover.<\/p>\n<p>Greenland\u2019s own government has strongly rebuffed Trump\u2019s comments, insisting that decisions about the territory\u2019s future belong to Greenlanders and Denmark under international law. EU officials have warned that any attempt by the United States to take over by force could jeopardise the future of NATO, as the alliance would be obligated to defend a fellow member state.<\/p>\n<p>China has also criticised Trump\u2019s stance, calling it self\u2011serving, and military analysts have dismissed the idea that ownership is necessary for defence, noting that the U.S. already maintains extensive global military partnerships without controlling foreign territory.<\/p>\n<p>Trump\u2019s remarks come amid rising geopolitical competition in the Arctic, where strategic resources and new shipping routes are attracting attention from major powers including Russia and China. As debates over Greenland\u2019s future continue, Trump\u2019s comments have added a controversial chapter to U.S. foreign policy discussions. <\/p>\n<figure class=\"spip-document spip-document-100519 aligncenter\"><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/en-images.igihe.com\/jpg\/0_trump-venezuela-oil-26009756203405.jpg\" alt=\"U.S. President Donald Trump has said he wants the United States to have full ownership of Greenland, calling the idea \u201cpsychologically important\u201d to him personally, in a remark that has sparked international concern and political backlash. \" \/><\/figure>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>U.S. President Donald Trump has said he wants the United States to have full ownership of Greenland, calling the idea \u201cpsychologically important\u201d to him personally, in a remark that has sparked international concern and political backlash. <\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":131,"featured_media":2000100524,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[6],"tags":[75],"byline":[201],"hashtag":[],"class_list":["post-56825","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-news","tag-homenews","byline-rania-umutoni"],"bylines":[{"id":201,"name":"Rania Umutoni","slug":"rania-umutoni","description":"","image":{"id":0,"url":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/?s=96&d=mm&f=y&r=g","alt":"Default avatar","title":"Default avatar","caption":"","mime_type":"image\/jpeg","sizes":[]},"user_id":139}],"contributors":[{"id":201,"name":"Rania Umutoni","slug":"rania-umutoni","description":"","image":{"id":0,"url":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/?s=96&d=mm&f=y&r=g","alt":"Default avatar","title":"Default avatar","caption":"","mime_type":"image\/jpeg","sizes":[]},"user_id":139}],"featured_image":{"id":2000100524,"url":"https:\/\/en-images.igihe.com\/IMG\/logo\/us-and-greenland-flag.jpg","alt":"","caption":"","mime_type":"image\/jpeg","width":0,"height":0,"sizes":{"thumbnail":{"url":"https:\/\/en-images.igihe.com\/IMG\/logo\/us-and-greenland-flag.jpg","width":1,"height":1},"medium":{"url":"https:\/\/en-images.igihe.com\/IMG\/logo\/us-and-greenland-flag.jpg","width":1,"height":1},"medium_large":{"url":"https:\/\/en-images.igihe.com\/IMG\/logo\/us-and-greenland-flag.jpg","width":1,"height":1},"large":{"url":"https:\/\/en-images.igihe.com\/IMG\/logo\/us-and-greenland-flag.jpg","width":1,"height":1},"full":{"url":"https:\/\/en-images.igihe.com\/IMG\/logo\/us-and-greenland-flag.jpg","width":0,"height":0}}},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/new.igihe.com\/english\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/56825","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/new.igihe.com\/english\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/new.igihe.com\/english\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/new.igihe.com\/english\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/131"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/new.igihe.com\/english\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=56825"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/new.igihe.com\/english\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/56825\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/new.igihe.com\/english\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/2000100524"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/new.igihe.com\/english\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=56825"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/new.igihe.com\/english\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=56825"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/new.igihe.com\/english\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=56825"},{"taxonomy":"byline","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/new.igihe.com\/english\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/byline?post=56825"},{"taxonomy":"hashtag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/new.igihe.com\/english\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/hashtag?post=56825"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}