Last month, Donald Trump said in an online post that it was an “absolute necessity” for the United States to take ownership of Greenland.

 Last month, Donald Trump said in an online post that it was an “absolute necessity” for the United States to take ownership of Greenland. As often with Trump, the question arises of how serious he really is—but it may be a mistake to dismiss his statements entirely as bluster. As climate change lengthens the shipping season, Greenland occupies an important strategic location. Moreover, the island and its offshore territories are believed to contain large untapped stores of fossil fuels and rare minerals. “In the power game that is developing over Greenland, there is one big potential loser, and it’s the European Union,” the French political scientist Florian Vidal told John Cassidy. “It needs the resources for its energy transition. It’s heavily reliant on Greenland. And it faces the potential danger of being squeezed out.” Read Cassidy on Trump’s imperialist rhetoric and its implications.