Canada rushes to open Greenland consulate as Trump eyes takeover

Canada is moving to step up its position in the Arctic, announcing plans to open new consulates in Greenland and Anchorage, Alaska, as tensions grow over the strategic region and US President Donald Trump continues floating the idea of taking control of Greenland.

Foreign Affairs Minister Anita Anand said Canada will open a consulate in Nuuk, Greenland, next month. The move had been in the works before Trump’s latest comments, but it now comes as global attention has become focused on the Arctic, reports Bloomberg. Ottawa also plans to open a consulate in Anchorage, though Anand said there’s no timeline yet for when that will happen.

“We have no choice but to ensure we’re bolstering our Arctic presence,” Anand told Bloomberg on the sidelines of the World Economic Forum in Davos. “Arctic security is very much on our radar.” Canada had originally planned to open its Greenland consulate in November 2025 but had to postpone due to bad weather.

Anand said the Arctic has become Canada’s top foreign policy priority as melting ice makes the Northwest Passage easier to navigate and as Russia pushes infrastructure farther north. “The region is so, so important now as we see Russian infrastructure moving further and further north and as we see the Northwest Passage becoming easier to traverse because of melting polar ice caps,” she said.

Prime Minister Mark Carney has pledged to ramp up Canada’s military and security presence in the region, including boosting defense spending to 2 percent of GDP this year and to 5 percent by 2035. Anand said she recently pressed NATO Secretary-General Mark Rutte on what the alliance plans to do in the Arctic.

“My question to him was, ‘What is NATO going to tangibly do?’ Because Canada is going to fortify our presence in the Arctic,” she said.

The diplomatic push comes as Trump has stepped up pressure on Denmark, even threatening tariffs against eight European NATO allies for pushing back against his bid to annex Greenland. “We’re talking about acquiring — not leasing, not having it short-term, we’re talking about acquiring and if we don’t do it, Russia or China will and that’s not going to happen while I’m president,” Trump told reporters over the weekend.

It comes after a report that Trump sent a message to European leaders saying he no longer feels bound to prioritize peace after missing out on last year’s Nobel Peace Prize, according to PBS. The message, addressed to Norwegian Prime Minister Jonas Gahr Støre and later forwarded to multiple European ambassadors in Washington, said Norway’s decision freed him up to focus more on US interests.

“Considering your Country decided not to give me the Nobel Peace Prize for having stopped 8 Wars PLUS, I no longer feel an obligation to think purely of Peace,” Trump wrote.

He also questioned Denmark’s legal claim to Greenland, saying, “Denmark cannot protect that land from Russia or China, and why do they have a ‘right of ownership’ anyway?”