Trump began the week by threatening to impose significant tariffs on EU nations unless they transferred Greenland, a semi-autonomous territory of Denmark, to the U.S. However, he retreated from the threat on Wednesday after announcing that he had reached a “framework for a future deal” with Rutte.
Nonetheless, the deal will face rejection from Nuuk if it permits any country other than Greenland to control its minerals, according to the minister.
The Arctic island contains vast reserves of certain rare earth elements enough to meet a quarter of the global demand, as well as significant quantities of oil, gas, gold, and clean energy metals, yet only a minimal amount has been extracted.
Though details of the framework are not yet clear, a European official suggested to POLITICO on Thursday that it might involve an oversight board to manage the island’s minerals.
Nathanielsen dismissed this idea. “That would be equivalent to relinquishing sovereignty, as it is our jurisdiction what happens with our minerals,” she stated, hinting at resolving Greenland’s resource issues through multilateral discussions.
“I’m not saying there is no possible agreement,” commented the Greenlandic representative, highlighting that the government held “no objections to enhancing [NATO] capacity in Greenland or any form of monitoring” and is also amenable to advancing a 2019 mining cooperation agreement with the U.S.
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