'Hyperbole': Energy journalist blasts 'utter nonsense' of Trump’s Greenland dream
President Donald J. Trump participates in a bilateral meeting with the Prime Minister of the Netherlands Mark Rutte Thursday, July 18, 2019, in the Oval Office of the White House. (Official White House Photo by Shealah Craighead)
President-elect Donald Trump continues to double down on his argument that the United States needs to acquire Greenland, a Danish territory, as a matter of "national security." But Greenland Prime Minister Múte Egede maintains that Greenland "is not for sale."
Bloomberg News opinion columnist Javier Blas, known for his focus on energy, is highly critical of Trump's argument for acquiring Greenland. And he slams Trump's claims about the island's resources as "utter nonsense" in his January 15, column.
"As with every tall tale, the story starts from a grain of truth," Blas argues. "The island of about 60,000 people, a self-ruling territory of Denmark, has some mineral deposits, some of which are even large. That's unsurprising. Geologically, the island is an extension of the North American continent, and we know that the U.S. and Canada do enjoy a significant mineral endowment."
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Blas cites a Danish geological survey from 2023, noting that it "warns that Greenland has very little chance of developing its commodity deposits due to high production costs."
Blas points out that the "hyperbole around Greenland and commodities has a 50-year long history."
"Back in the 1970s," the Bloomberg columnist explains, "the interest was about oil. The craze resurfaced in the early 2000s after oil and iron ore prices surged. Suffice to say the island doesn't pump a barrel of oil, and the miner that planned to develop an iron ore deposit went into bankruptcy."
Blas continues, "Now, it's an eagerness to tap 'a lot of great natural resources' — in the words of Vice President-elect JD Vance. But here, it really depends on your definition of 'a lot' — certainly, using my definition, it doesn’t qualify. It's not even close."
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Javier Blas' full Bloomberg News column is available at this link (subscription required).
