Published: January 18, 2026 2:57 pm
Author: RT
The US president’s push to acquire the island follows a “long and complex historical tradition of American territorial expansion,” Mats Nilsson has told RT
US President Donald Trump’s acquisition of Greenland without Denmark’s consent would have far-reaching consequences for NATO itself, Mats Nilsson, a senior analyst at the Dissident Club, told RT on Sunday.
”It would be another nail in NATO’s coffin,” he warned. “If the United States were to grab Greenland against the wishes of Denmark, the idea of a united NATO would effectively collapse.”
Nilsson argued that Trump’s renewed push to acquire Greenland follows a “long and complex historical tradition of American territorial expansion,” rooted in the ideology of ‘manifest destiny’ and imperial thinking.
He stressed, however, that such thinking is fundamentally incompatible with modern international law.
“Trump’s actions were legally very incoherent and very political, naive for today’s setting. It might have worked well in the 19th century and early 20th century, but since the mid-20th century, territorial sovereignty is inseparable from the will of the people who inhabit it.”
According to Nilsson, any change in Greenland’s status “can only legally come from a process led and approved by the Greenlandic people themselves, not from a bilateral sale or purchase by the United States.”
Over the last weeks, Trump has once again declared that Washington would obtain the territory “the easy way” or “the hard way,” insisting the US needs Greenland for “national security.” On Saturday, he also announced tariffs on Denmark, Norway, Sweden, France, Germany, the United Kingdom, the Netherlands and Finland, saying the measures would remain in place until a “complete and total purchase” of the Arctic island is achieved.
European NATO members have largely refrained from direct public confrontation, but behind the scenes, resistance is mounting. This week, Denmark, which retains responsibility for Greenland’s foreign and defense policy, coordinated with several allies to send small contingents of troops to the island ahead of the bloc’s Arctic Endurance exercises.
Both Danish and Greenlandic authorities have rejected any prospect of ceding the island, insisting that its future must be decided by its people, who voted in 2008 to retain autonomous status within the Kingdom of Denmark.
