Trump envoy Jeff Landry pushes for Greenland bases as Danish political crisis deepens

Jeff Landry, Donald Trump's special envoy for Greenland, arrived in Nuuk on May 18 for the Future Greenland conference. He landed on an island where the US has already secured 92.5% control of the largest rare earth deposit outside China, proposed three new military bases designated as sovereign US territory, and found Denmark, Greenland's protecting power, eight weeks into a political crisis with no functioning government.

The Two-Track Capture

Washington is working Greenland on two fronts at once: minerals and military access. The two campaigns look separate, but they depend on the same opening.

The mineral track moved first. Critical Metals Corp., a US-listed company backed by Export-Import Bank financing of up to $120 million, received Greenland government approval on May 5 to tighten its hold on the Tanbreez heavy rare earth deposit. The site has one of only two active mining licences among more than 140 exploration permits on the island, and the licence runs until 2050. First production is targeted for Q4 2028, with offtake already committed to US defence contractors.

The military track is a few weeks behind. General Gregory Guillot of US Northern Command set out the three-base plan in Senate testimony in March. Two sites, Narsarsuaq and Kangerlussuaq, both former US airfields, have been physically inspected by embassy officials. The proposed "sovereign territory" status would go beyond the 1951 US-Denmark Defence Agreement, creating American jurisdictional enclaves on territory linked to Europe.

Both tracks are helped by the delay to Greenland's investment screening law. That law would have given the authorities power to block foreign takeovers in strategic sectors. It was withdrawn from the spring parliamentary session and pushed to autumn 2026. Between April and May, three major mineral approvals went through without that filter.

Copenhagen's Empty Chair

Denmark is struggling to answer because there is no government with the authority to answer. The country has been without a government since the March 24 election, its longest formation crisis since 1945. Coalition talks were paused on May 17, the day before Landry arrived in Nuuk.

Greenland's premier, Jens-Frederik Nielsen, said the quiet part aloud on May 12: foreign and defence policy "is about the Kingdom of Denmark, meaning Greenland and Denmark together," and he wants a Danish government soon. Local press reports say Danish representatives are not expected at the Future Greenland conference. Landry is meeting Greenland without Danish ministers in the room.

Europe Moves, but Slowly

Europe has noticed the problem, but it is moving on a different clock. NATO launched Arctic Sentry in February, a surveillance mission bringing allied patrols into a single framework, with German Eurofighters and expanded Nordic deployments. France has opened a consulate in Nuuk and sent a trade minister to the same conference as Landry, alongside a geological mapping deal with the BRGM, France's national geological survey. The Nordic Council, the joint parliamentary body for Nordic cooperation, is coordinating Arctic policy with a proposed Canada-Nordic coalition.

None of that matches Washington's speed. The EU's Critical Raw Materials Act aims for 10% domestic extraction by 2030, but Europe's earliest rare earth production date is late 2031 in Norway. The US already has contracts, financing and a mining licence.

Nielsen's Narrow Corridor

Nielsen has drawn his lines carefully: no cession of territory, democratic control over any agreement, and an end to threats (BT, Nordjyske). At the same time, he is leaving doors open: more NATO responsibility and broader business cooperation.

A caretaker Danish prime minister cannot conclude binding agreements. But the mineral deals are already in place, and the military working group is meeting anyway. If Denmark's coalition deadline passes on May 21 without a government, the space widens again. Washington is acting in weeks. Europe is responding in years.