US President Donald Trump is dead set on taking control of Greenland, the world’s biggest island and a self-ruling territory of Denmark, despite opposition from Greenlanders and Danes.
Trump first put forward the idea of buying Greenland in 2019, during his first term as president. Since returning to the White House, he’s stepped up his rhetoric. On Dec. 21, the president escalated the dispute by announcing plans to appoint Louisiana Governor Jeff Landry as a special envoy to the island.
“We need it for national security,” Trump told reporters at his Mar-a-Lago estate in Florida. “We have to have it. And he wanted to lead the charge.”
Trump’s advances have baffled and frustrated officials in Copenhagen and Greenland’s capital Nuuk, who’ve been clear that the territory is not for sale and its people have no desire for their land to become the 51st US state. Denmark’s government has repeatedly summoned the US ambassador over the matter, and in December a Danish intelligence agency for the first time described the US as a potential security risk.
Why does Trump want Greenland?
As Trump surely knows, other US leaders have made their mark in history for such grand ideas, with Andrew Johnson remembered as the president who oversaw the acquisition of Alaska from Russia in 1867.
When Trump suggested a potential Greenland purchase back in 2019, he presented it as “a large real estate deal” that could ease Denmark’s state finances. His argument this time around is that US control of the island is vital for national security.
The president said he did not believe Denmark had devoted enough spending to protect the island. Copenhagen has been diverting growing sums of money to the self-governing territory of 57,000 people, including billions of dollars for defenses and infrastructure.
“They have a very small population, and I don’t know — they say Denmark, but Denmark has spent no money. They have no military protection,” Trump said on Dec. 22. “They say that Denmark was there 300 years ago or something, with a boat. Well, we were there with boats too, I’m sure. So we’ll have to work it all out.”
What interest does the US have in Greenland?
The island has long been a nexus of tensions among global powers.
Bigger than Mexico and Saudi Arabia, Greenland sits at a strategic location straddling the North Atlantic and the Arctic, a region whose vast stores of critical minerals and fossil fuels are coveted by the US and its strategic rivals China and Russia. The accelerated melting of Greenland’s ice sheet due to climate change potentially makes those deposits more accessible, while also opening up shorter shipping routes for trade between North America, Europe and Asia.
Trump has pushed back on the notion that Greenland’s energy or minerals are fueling his interest, saying the US had plenty of resources.
Greenland is already home to the US’s northernmost air base and a radar station that’s used for detecting missile threats and monitoring space. Gaining control over Greenland could give the US government new opportunities to expand its air and naval presence in the Arctic and step up monitoring of Chinese and Russian activity there.
How would Trump go about taking control of Greenland?
It’s unclear. When he brought up the idea of buying Greenland in 2019, adjunct Professor Rasmus Leander Nielsen of Greenland University told local media that Denmark can’t sell Greenland because its home-rule law of 2009 “clearly states that Greenlanders are their own people.”
Trump’s best hope would be for the territory to gain independence and then reach some kind of deal to make it part of the US. As it turns out, breaking away from Denmark has long been discussed in Greenland, though full independence is unlikely to happen for several years.
But Trump’s interest in Greenland has caused unease, even fear, among its people over what would happen should they break away from Denmark too soon. That concern was underscored in an election on March 11, in which three out of four Greenlandic voters opted for parties that back only a slow move to independence.
How credible is the idea of the US buying Greenland?
Until a century ago, it wasn’t that unusual for a country’s government to buy a new territory: Before the Alaska purchase, the US bought Louisiana from France for $15 million in 1803.
There’s even a precedent involving Denmark. The government in Copenhagen sold what are now known as the US Virgin Islands in 1917. More recently, other islands have come up for sale, but they tend to be smaller and located in warmer climates. Joseph Blocher of the Duke University School of Law wrote in 2014 that the “market for sovereign territory seems to have dried up.”
How much might Greenland be worth?
Since the 830,000 square-mile (2.1 million square-kilometer) island isn’t currently on the market, there are no valuations available. However, for a sense of how much it might fetch, it’s worth noting that its gross domestic product totaled just over $3.2 billion in 2021, according to the World Bank. Greenland receives an annual subsidy of around $600 million from Denmark. For perspective, the purchase price of Alaska in 1867, $7.2 million, would translate to just over $150 million today — which most would agree would be quite a bargain.
How would Greenlanders feel about becoming part of the US?
Trump has said he supports Greenlanders’ right to determine their own future, but he appears confident he will get them on his side. Opinion polls suggest he has a long way to go, with the island’s people overwhelmingly against the idea of joining the US.
Following the March election, leaders of all Greenland’s political parties came together to condemn the US president’s approach, calling his behavior “unacceptable.” Premier Jens-Frederik Nielsen has been clear that “Greenland is not a house you can buy” and that Greenlanders need to get tougher when dealing with Trump. That said, most lawmakers in Greenland are open to doing more business with the US.
How might Trump pay for an eventual Greenland deal?
Under the US Constitution, Congress would have to approve money for any Greenland purchase. But Trump has previously shown a willingness to try to go around Congress’s power of the purse. During his first term, when Congress refused to appropriate money for more fencing on the US-Mexico border, Trump raided the Pentagon’s budget to find funds for it. The Supreme Court backed him up.
(Reporting by Sanne Wass and Sara Sjolin)
Disclaimer: This report is auto generated from the Bloomberg news service. ThePrint holds no responsibility for its content.
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