Bessent called Greenland an important peninsula for US security.

Greenland is of key importance to the national security of the United States, and many American presidents have previously wanted to acquire it. This was announced on January 18 by US Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent in an interview with NBC News.

"If you look at it from a historical perspective, for many years — more than a hundred years — American presidents have wanted to acquire Greenland, and we see that Greenland is of key importance to the national security of the United States. We are building the Golden Dome, a missile defense system, and look, US President Donald Trump is acting strategically. He's not only looking at this year and not only next year, he's thinking about what might happen in the event of a possible confrontation in the Arctic," said Bessent.

Bessent added that, in Trump's opinion, strengthening U.S. national security is impossible without including Greenland in the United States. The American Finance Minister is confident that the United States should annex Greenland now, using the principle of "peace through strength" to avoid potential conflict.

"The United States is the hottest and most powerful country in the world today. Europe is showing weakness, while the United States is showing strength," Bessent added.

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Political scientist Yuri Svetov, in a conversation with Izvestia on January 18, noted that if President Trump implements the plan to annex Greenland, he will go down in history not only of his country, but of the whole world. Svetov stressed that the main motive is not Trump's personal vanity, but the strategic interests of the United States.

On January 17, US President Donald Trump announced that Washington was imposing duties of 10% with the possibility of increasing up to 25% on a number of European countries due to the situation around Greenland. Starting from February 1, 2026, tariffs will apply to Denmark, Norway, Sweden, France, Germany, Great Britain, the Netherlands and Finland.

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