Greenland’s strategic position in seven maps: Why Trump wants the island

EXPLAINERThe world’s largest island sits in the Arctic Circle and is strategically and economically valuable.Published On 21 Jan 2026US President Donald Trump is in Davos, Switzerland, to attend the annual gathering of the World Economic Forum (WEF), where the issue of Greenland will be front and centre.Trump’s long-running fixation on acquiring Greenland, an autonomous territory of NATO member Denmark, has escalated into a transatlantic imbroglio, with threats of sweeping new tariffs and even taking Greenland by military force rattling stock markets.Speaking at a White House media briefing on Tuesday to mark one year since his second-term inauguration, he said Greenland was “imperative for national and world security”.He warned the United Kingdom, Denmark, Norway, Sweden, France, Germany, the Netherlands, and Finland that they will face 10 percent tariffs on all goods from February 1, rising to 25 percent by June, unless they back his proposed takeover of the Danish autonomous territory. It comes as European leaders meeting in Davos warn the dispute risks a trade war and a rupture in the NATO alliance.Where is Greenland?Greenland is the world’s largest island, located mostly within the Arctic Circle between the Arctic and Atlantic oceans. Geographically, it is part of North America, lying northeast of Canada and west of Iceland, but politically it is an autonomous territory within the Kingdom of Denmark.Approximately 80 percent of Greenland is covered by the Greenland ice sheet, the second-largest body of ice on Earth. Because the interior is largely uninhabitable, most of Greenland’s population lives along the coastline. The capital city, Nuuk, located on the southwest coast, is Greenland’s largest city, home to about one-third of the island’s roughly 56,000 residents.(Al Jazeera)Countries in the Arctic CircleThe Arctic Circle is an imaginary line at 66.5 degrees north that includes the North Pole, the northernmost point on Earth.Eight countries, including Canada, Finland, Greenland, Iceland, Norway, Russia, Sweden and the United States, have land lying within this region. Some Arctic countries are closer to each other than many people realise.Greenland’s closest neighbour is Canada, and at its narrowest point, between the Nares Strait, the two countries are only 26km (16 miles) apart. Canada and Greenland also technically share a land border, having settled a decades-long dispute over Hans Island, a small rock in the strait, by dividing it in half.