DONALD TRUMP HAS said that “massive” oil, gas and mineral exploration is set to get underway in Greenland, following the signing of a new defence agreement between the Arctic island, the United States and Denmark last month. 

Trump referred to the semi-autonomous island as “our new and beautiful Greenland” when making the announcement in a post on his Truth Social website on Wednesday morning. 

He said that “experts” were saying the amount of “easily available oil” was much larger that “almost any land, anywhere in the world”.

Trump also said that, “from a security purpose”, Greenland was “second to none”.

“From a Security Purpose in the Defense and Offense of both the United States of America, and Europe, is second to none,” he wrote.

“Any future attack on the United States will have to come across Greenland, where our Defense will routinely knock down drones, missiles, or any other form of weapon not yet even conceived.

“It gives us time, location, and sightline, like nowhere else in the World!”

During his first term in office, Trump signalled that he wanted the United States to take control of the Danish territory by force. 

That rhetoric ramped up significantly once he returned to the White House for his second term, threatening to cause a major rift between the United States and its European allies. 

The September deal was seen as an off-ramp and a majority of Greenland’s parliament signalled on Monday that it would support the new defence agreement, even though Greenland was already in Nato and is also home to a US military base. 

Some Greenlandic opposition politicians expressed concern about the deal’s economic value. 

The deal will come up for a second reading in parliament and is expected to pass.

“It’s going to be a long-term, fantastic relationship,” Trump said at a signing ceremony on the sidelines of the UN General Assembly in New York in September.

“This is tremendous for Europe and for the United States and for everybody,” he added.

Under the 10-page pact, the United States will build two military bases in southern and eastern Greenland.

These will be established in Narsarsuaq in the south of the island and Mestersvig in the east, in addition to the Pituffik base it already operates in the north.

With reporting from AFP