Naaja Nathanielsen may not be a household name in the chancelleries of Europe, but she has managed to stir interest and concern in certain quarters, due to a recent interview with the Financial Times. Nathanielsen is Greenland’s minister for business and mineral resources in the new Greenland government elected last March. Its victory was generally perceived as reflecting a desire by the Greenlandic electorate to defer possible separation from Denmark, in the face of threats from Donald Trump to annex the island.
Nathanielsen’s comments to the Financial Times represented a transparent attempt to manipulate the US and the EU, by threatening to allow China access to Greenland’s mineral deposits, its rare-earth minerals alone being potentially valued at $3.5 trillion. “We do want to partner up with European and American partners,” the minister said. “But if they don’t show up I think we need to look elsewhere.”
