Last August Donald Trump astonished the world by announcing his intention to buy Greenland. “Essentially it’s a large real estate deal,” the US president said.

His move prompted a furious response from Denmark, which has sovereignty over the semi-autonomous territory. Danish prime minister Mette Frederiksen called the proposal “absurd”, prompting Trump to cancel a planned visit to the country. He in turn called her comments “nasty” and “inappropriate”.

“All she had to do is say no, we wouldn’t be interested,” he said.

Greenland, which has a significant independence movement, also dismissed the suggestion. “We’re open for business, not for sale”, its foreign ministry said.

Eight months later the issue is back on the agenda.

The United States announced a $12 billion (€11.1 billion) economic development package for Greenland this week and confirmed plans to open a consulate in the capital, Nuuk, this year. The funding will allow US agencies to work with Greenlandic officials to develop natural resources.

The country’s premier Kim Kielsen welcomed the “increased co-operation between Greenland and the US”. The Danish response was less upbeat. Opposition figures argued it undermined Denmark’s relationship with Greenland. But the government in Copenhagen was more measured, with the foreign minister noting it was in Greenland’s interest to have a good relationship with the US.

Strategic

The US’s interest in the sprawling island to the northeast of Canada makes strategic and economic sense.

The largest island in the world, and home to nearly 58,000 people, Greenland is a territory about 80 per cent covered by ice. But its strategic value has been increasing thanks to global warming. Melting polar ice caps have opened up waterways and shipping lanes, raising the possibility of new maritime routes through the Arctic Circle.

It also has abundant natural resources beneath its ice caps, including coal, copper, iron ore and rare minerals, which other countries, including the US, are keen to tap.

The US’s fresh interest in Greenland also reveals something of the country’s geopolitical priorities.

Despite the US’s retreat from the international arena under the Trump administration, its government is continuing to eye strategic interests, including in the Arctic circle. The region has also caught the interest of other global powers. China has been eyeing investment there, raising the possibility of a “polar silk road,” and is bidding to build a new airport, though it has yet to win any infrastructural contracts.

Russia, a member of the eight-member Arctic Council which oversees the region, has historically had more of an interest in the region. Moscow has increased its military footprint in the region of late, investing in military bases and increasing operational exercises. It has also upped its naval and submarine activity in the Arctic more generally as it continues to put naval power at the heart of its defence strategy.

Speaking in Washington this week a State Department official was unambiguous about the rationale behind the new investment in Greenland – the need to check Russian and Chinese power.

“We ... have concerns about Russia’s military build-up in the Arctic,” he said, noting the establishment of new Arctic commands, brigades, and deep water ports along Russia’s Arctic coastline, and an increase in military exercises.

Similarly he said the US does “not accept Beijing’s claims to be a near-Artic state.”

Across the world Beijing has “weaponised its state capitalism in an effort to secure control of critical infrastructure such as ports and telecommunications networks,” he said. “We can’t necessarily assume its good intentions with regards to its activities in the Arctic.”

The State Department says US interest in Greenland is nothing new. It notes that it previously had a consulate in the capital, which was established as a deterrent for a Nazi invasion in 1940 after the German occupation of Denmark, and closed in 1953.

Similarly, the US air base at Thule in northwestern Greenland, 1,100km north of the Arctic Circle, is an important asset. During the Cold War it was a buffer against Russia and it currently houses a sophisticated ballistic missile early-warning and tracking system.

As the global balance of power continues to shift with the rise of China and a newly-confident Russia, the Arctic Circle may be one region where competing interests of the big powers play out.