Greenland minister says minerals oversight body in US-NATO talks would amount to 'surrender of sovereignty'

Naaja Nathanielsen, Greenland’s minister for Business, Minerals, Energy, Justice and Gender Equality, said Greenland “will not accept a situation where future development of our minerals sector is decided outside Greenland,” as U.S. President Donald Trump eyes the territory.

According to Politico Europe and other outlets on the 23rd (local time), Nathanielsen commented on a European official’s remark that a Greenland agreement between President Trump and the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) would include a body to oversee Greenland’s minerals, saying “that (a minerals oversight body) could amount to a surrender of sovereignty.”

Earlier, at a meeting on the 21st with NATO Secretary General Mark Rutte, President Trump said he had set up a framework for negotiations over Greenland and withdrew plans to impose tariffs on eight European countries. He later said he was negotiating with Europe to secure comprehensive access rights to Greenland.

Some rare earths in Greenland are estimated to be large enough to meet a quarter of global demand, and the island also holds oil and gas, gold and clean-energy metals, though most have not been mined.

Nathanielsen said, “That doesn’t mean there won’t be an agreement,” adding that she is not opposed to strengthening NATO’s presence in Greenland or to some form of monitoring.

She also said Greenland is open to building on the minerals cooperation agreement it signed with the United States in 2019.

Han Kyeong-woo, Hankyung.com reporter case@hankyung.com