Since his election in November 2024, Donald Trump has made several statements calling for the United States to acquire Greenland from Denmark. Citing national security concerns, Trump has pressured allies and surrogates into making this ambition a reality, with the White House refusing to rule out the use of military assets to seize the island. These calls have grown in intensity following the U.S. capture of Venezuelan president Nicolás Maduro in January 2026.

Aside from Trump’s remarks, U.S. military leaders have long recognized the strategic importance of Greenland. Since the early 1940s, the U.S. military has maintained installations in the far north of the island. Starting as a series of weather stations, these installations were expanded into a sizable air base in 1953. The base – Thule Air Base, later transferred to the U.S. Space Force and renamed Pituffik Space Base in 2020 – was used throughout the Cold War to monitor Soviet activity and provide early warning in the event of a nuclear attack. While the facility hosted thousands of soldiers at its peak, it is currently staffed by approximately 200 active-duty personnel.

Should substantive negotiations over the status of Greenland occur, it is likely that the US military presence on the island would be a key topic of discussion. Given Trump’s statements about building up power in the Arctic, negotiators could potentially push for an expansion in the number of active duty troops in Greenland.

This question will resolve positively if the United States Department of Defense / Department of War or a major news outlet reports that the number of active-duty troops stationed in Greenland has reached or exceeded 1000.