Responding to President Donald Trump’s insistence that he wants to acquire Greenland, Denmark’s government has announced that it will increase military spending in the North Atlantic by the equivalent of $2 billion.

“Greenland is facing a changing security landscape,” Vivian Motzfeldt, a member of Greenland’s government, said in a statement on Monday announcing the increased spending.

Greenland, a gigantic island in the North Atlantic that is a semi-autonomous territory of Denmark, has taken on strategic importance in recent years as Arctic ice melts, opening up shipping lanes for international business. Just days into his second term, Trump called for taking control of Greenland and refused to rule out using military or economic force to do so.

For purposes of national security, Trump has said, “ownership and control of Greenland is an absolute necessity”.

The increased spending by Copenhagen forms part of an Arctic and North Atlantic agreement between Denmark, Greenland and the Faroe Islands that was negotiated last year as strains between the US, Russia and China spilled into the Arctic. The announcement of the increased money, though, was most likely rushed through as tensions ratcheted up with the US over Greenland, said Niels Thulesen Dahl, a political analyst at the Danish daily Jyllands-Posten.

As part of the measures, the Danish government, along with the governments of Greenland and the Faroe Islands, will purchase three Arctic naval vessels to patrol the waters around the islands. They will also acquire two long-range drones and satellites to improve surveillance of the area.