Greenland dumps Donald Trump, signs lucrative minerals deal with Europe in a major blow to the president

Greenland has handed a 30-year mining permit to a Danish-French consortium to extract minerals, shutting the door on US president Donald Trump’s much-publicised ambitions to gain a strategic foothold in the Arctic, as per a report.

European Consortium Gets the Green Light

The licence, issued to Greenland Anorthosite Mining (GAM), greenlights anorthosite extraction, a white rock composed mainly of aluminum, micro silica, and calcium , which will be crushed and then shipped to the fibreglass industry, as per Newsweek.

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Who's Behind the Minerals Deal?

According to Reuters, GAM is backed by the French company Jean Boulle Group and real estate investment firms from Denmark and Greenland.

Donald Trump's Greenland Dream Fades

This comes amid the US president publicly expressing his interest in acquiring the autonomous island, which is currently a part of the Kingdom of Denmark and is very rich in minerals, oil and natural gas, as per Newsweek report. Recently, Trump said, "We need Greenland very badly," quoted Newsweek.

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Greenland Pushes Back

However, Greenland's mineral resources minister Naaja Nathanielsen pointed out that United States interest in Greenland has not resulted in any investment, and the deal indicates that business dialogue with European partners was progressing more swiftly, Newsweek reported.

Nathanielsen said, "We have welcomed a number of investors, but we have not yet seen any concrete example of American funds being injected into Greenland's business community," as quoted in the Newsweek report.

European Partners Step Up

She also said that many private US business delegations had visited the region this year, and even though the Trump administration has shown interest, no formal dialogue with the Trump administration had started, as per Newsweek. Nathanielsen also highlighted that the US had no plans for direct investment, according to the report. While, she mentioned that the cooperation with both the EU and Denmark was progressing more smoothly, Newsweek reported.

Trump's Long-Term Thinking

An associate professor at Aalborg University in Denmark, Jesper Willaing Zeuthen, pointed out that the US president's interest in resources from Greenland would mostly be focused more on long-term investment objects and securing the minerals in the future, but would not be for immediate development of mines, as per Newsweek.

FAQs

How has Greenland reacted to the European deal?
According to their mineral resources minister, cooperation with Europe is smoother and more productive.

What’s this mineral deal about?
Greenland gave a 30-year mining permit to a Danish-French company to extract anorthosite, a rock used in fiberglass and aluminum production.