Denmark has deployed more conscripts to Greenland to boost ‘Arctic defence’. But the spectre of US president Donald Trump’s recent threat to annex the vast island still looms large. Citing a Reuters investigation, the South China Morning Post reported on 2 September:

For the first time in recent history, Danish ⁠conscripts have been deployed to ⁠Greenland, as Denmark moves to ⁠bolster its presence in the Arctic after US demands to acquire the territory.

Denmark recently accelerated conscription, mostly in relation to a perceived Russian threat. Now those same troops find themselves in the Americas as a ‘tripwire’ force set against the most powerful military on earth.

The Morning Post said:

The conscripts are part of the first cohort under Denmark’s new extended conscription programme, aimed at producing soldiers able to operate in one of the kingdom’s most strategically important and challenging regions.

Trump clashed with Danish leaders in early 2026 after he suggested that Greenland should be under US control.

Danish troops arrive in Greenland.pic.twitter.com/aZzZlHSvdy

— Clash Report (@clashreport) January 19, 2026

Since then, the Post reported:

Copenhagen has pledged billions of dollars to strengthen Arctic ‌defences after Denmark’s defence minister acknowledged years of underinvestment in the region.

The new deployment seems to be as much about signaling intent as putting a credible force in place. In theory — though the Iranian government seems to disagree – the US remains the world’s pre-eminent martial power.

Strategic communication

Danish army officer Laura ‌Jepsen said that the troop increase was mostly about “strategic communication”:

but our role here is just to continue the training ⁠of the conscripts, ⁠the soldiers, and get more experience with the training in the Arctic terrain and climate.

As the Canary wrote in January, Trump appeared to step down from talk of annexation. However:

A potential US invasion of Greenland has been making headlines since America’s sudden attack on Venezuela. The large North American island is an autonomous territory of Denmark, a NATO ally.

Adding:

In place of military aggression, Trump hammered his flimsy supposition that the US needs Greenland for defence purposes. In fact, he went so far as to suggest that NATO effectively owes Greenland to the US in return for America’s previous contributions to global security.

More broadly, Trump had made it clear he wants the US to be in the driving seat in the Americas. In Latin America that has taken a kinetic form: covert and overt military action, intelligence operations and backing dictators. You can read our sweeping Canary analysis of Trump’s project in the Americas here.

Lake America?

In the case of Canada, Trump has primarily pursued economic warfare and psychological posturing. The latest is his decision to rename Lake Ontario — which is bisected by the US/Canada border — as ‘Lake America’.

Trump said of recent failed trade negotiations with Canada:

They want to be treated like a state, but they are not a state. The Canadian officials have treated us very badly. They are nasty people.

Trump wears his ambitions on his sleeve. But his capacity to carry them out is increasingly in question. The Iran war has certainly accelerated US decline — and in the most public way. That said, fading empires are dangerous, erratic things.

Denmark is a paid-up member of NATO, the US-led alliance Trump is increasingly critical of. Time will tell if his tantrum-like blustering turns into an actual military threat to a territory administered by an ally. It seems improbable. But in historical moments like the one we are living through, it would be unwise to write an annexation off entirely.

Featured image via Euronews

By Joe Glenton

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