The Trump administration is planning to open a US consulate in Greenland for the first time in decades, amid increased strategic and economic interest in the Danish territory, The Guardian reports.

The state department said in a letter to Congress that re-establishing a consulate in Nuuk is part of a broader plan to increase the US presence in the arctic. A copy of the letter was obtained by the Associated Press.

The US has a “strategic interest in enhancing political, economic, and commercial relationships across the Arctic region”, said the letter to the Senate foreign relations committee.

Donald Trump sparked a diplomatic dispute with US-ally Denmark this week after he proposed that the US buy Greenland and the Danish government rejected the idea.