American control of Greenland is necessary for this reason

US President Donald Trump said on Wednesday that US control over Greenland is “essential” to the “Golden Dome” air and missile defense system that he plans to create.

“The United States needs Greenland for national security purposes. It is essential to the Golden Dome system we are building,” Trump, who has pledged control of the Arctic island from ally Denmark, wrote on social media.

“NATO would be much more powerful and effective if Greenland was under US control. Anything less than that is unacceptable,” he added.

Trump’s post came ahead of an upcoming visit by top Danish and Greenlandic diplomats to the White House for talks on Greenland with Vice President Jay DeVance and Secretary of State Marco Rubio.

Hours before the meeting began, Danish Defense Minister Truls Lund Poulsen sought to allay American concerns about security in Greenland, telling AFP that Denmark was strengthening its military presence there and was holding talks with its allies about “increasing NATO’s presence in the Arctic.”

For his part, Trump said that NATO “should take the lead” in building a multi-layered missile defense system.

The US President wrote, “If we do not do it, Russia or China will do it, and this will not happen!”