US announces new funding for Greenland in push for stronger Arctic presence

The U.S. is providing $12.1 million to Greenland in an effort to establish new diplomatic ties and increase its presence in the Arctic, the State Department announced on Thursday.

The funding was welcomed by Greenland’s government but criticized by officials in Denmark, its parent state that had brushed off President Trump’s offer to buy the island last year.

“They have clearly crossed the line,” Karsten Honge, a member of the foreign affairs committee for the Socialist People’s Party in Denmark, told Reuters.

“It’s completely unheard of that a close ally tries to create division between Greenland and Denmark this way.”

Greenland’s government said in a statement Thursday the funding will go to civilian projects, including the mineral industry, tourism and education and be implemented “primarily as consultancy and advisory assistance from U.S. experts.”

But a senior State Department official said the funding is meant to safeguard U.S. interests for a “secure and stable Arctic” and counter threats from Russia and China.

The official said both Russia and China are on a pathway to “clash with the interests of the United States and our allies and our partners” in the Arctic.

The U.S. is expected to open a consulate in Greenland’s capital city Nuuk later this summer, the first American diplomatic presence there since 1953.