(JAN 23): Denmark’s defence minister wants to raise the Nordic country’s total military spending to more than 500 billion kroner (US$70 billion) through 2033 as it seeks to ramp up investment in security in the Arctic region.

It comes amid a deepening diplomatic crisis between Copenhagen and Washington after Donald Trump last month said he wants to take control of Greenland, a self-ruling territory of Denmark, citing national security reasons.

“We need to invest more in security in the Arctic,” Troels Lund Poulsen said in a Facebook post on Thursday. “It’s about international security, where the Arctic and the North Atlantic have taken on an even more central position.”

Denmark has already earmarked about 200 billion kroner for defence in the period 2024-2033, and Poulsen in November suggested spending an additional 300 billion kroner in the period. Now he is “doubtful” that is enough, he said.

The government is also “working hard” to strengthen its cooperation with the Trump administration on Arctic defence, Poulsen said. He added that Danish lawmakers have already agreed to a double-digit billion-krone investment in Denmark’s military presence in the Arctic, and that similar such deals will follow in the coming months.

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