President Donald Trump is looking to grant Greenland special status in a Compact of Free Association agreement, Reuters reported. The president has made it known that the strategically located island nation is important to the U.S.
The COFA is a type of agreement commonly used to foster friendly ties with Pacific Island nations. Much of what's contained in the agreements is not made known to the public.
However, nations typically receive benefits such as military protection and services ranging from emergency management to mail delivery. In return, the U.S. gets free trade without tariffs while the U.S. military is allowed to operate from the islands.
Trump has been looking to acquire Greenland since his first administration, and continued his overtures after taking office again in January. Even with this potential agreement, it's unclear whether the country will go along with it.
The Trump-created National Security Council and the National Energy Dominance Council have been putting together the deal on Trump's behalf. The National Economic Council is also involved in crafting a COFA that Greenland would readily sign on to.
While such an agreement seems attractive and easily sold to Greenland, the reality is that there are many challenges ahead. Firstly, the agreement would eliminate Trump's ultimate goal of making Greenland part of the U.S.
Moreover, it may be difficult to arrange a COFA with Greenland because it's still a territory of Denmark, even if it is considered autonomous. Greenland would likely have to sever its relationship with Denmark before signing on.
It's not that Greenland doesn't want its independence from Denmark, but instead that it doesn't necessarily want to be controlled by any entity, including the U.S. The island nation has a population of about 57,000, but a COFA agreement would not make them citizens.
Finally, COFAs for island nations such as the Marshall Islands, Micronesia, and Palau haven't yielded expected results. The U.S. cozied up to the nations to ally against China, but that hasn't stopped officials in places like Palau from opening up amicable relations with China.
Earlier this week, Trump doubled down on expressing his desire to acquire Greenland. "We need Greenland very badly. Greenland is a very small amount of people, which we’ll take care of and we’ll cherish them and all of that, but we need that for international security," Trump said.
Still, this talk about getting Greenland on board may be a moot point if reports about the U.S. spying are correct. According to Fox News, information recently emerged suggesting American intelligence gathering operations were occurring in Greenland.
On Friday, Danish Prime Minister Mette Frederiksen said, "You cannot spy against an ally" when asked about it in the press. "Cooperation about defense, deterrence, and security in the northern part of Europe is getting more and more important," Frederiksen said.
American officials were in contact to attempt to smooth over relations, but Greenlandic Prime Minister Jens-Frederik Nielsen made it clear that this was unacceptable. Nielsen said Greenland "will never, ever be a piece of property that can be bought by just anyone," and furthermore, that "the talks from the United States have not been respectful."
Trump wants so much to get his way with Greenland. Unfortunately, it seems that the more time that goes on and the more things that happen, the prospect becomes more remote by the day.
