Greenland acquisition

Extracted Attributes

• Public Opposition

  Approximately 85% of Greenlanders reject a U.S. takeover

• Strategic Drivers

  National security, Arctic shipping lanes, mineral resources, and monitoring of Russian/Chinese activity

• Estimated Purchase Cost

  Up to $700 billion

• Legal Status of Greenland

  Autonomous territory within the Kingdom of Denmark with the right to self-determination

• Primary U.S. Military Asset

  Pituffik Space Base (formerly Thule Air Base)

Timeline

• Internal U.S. discussions regarding the purchase of Greenland initiated by Secretary of State William H. Seward. (Source: Wikipedia)

  1867-01-01

• U.S. acknowledges Danish sovereignty over Greenland as part of the treaty to purchase the Danish West Indies. (Source: NBC News)

  1916-08-04

• U.S. occupies Greenland following the German invasion of Denmark to prevent Nazi use of the territory. (Source: DIIS)

  1940-04-09

• The United States makes a secret $100 million offer to purchase Greenland, which is rejected by Denmark. (Source: Wikipedia)

  1946-01-01

• U.S. and Denmark sign a defense treaty giving the U.S. a significant military role in Greenland. (Source: Wikipedia)

  1951-04-27

• Construction begins on Thule Air Base (now Pituffik Space Base) in northwest Greenland. (Source: Wikipedia)

  1953-01-01

• President Donald Trump publicly expresses interest in buying Greenland; Danish PM Mette Frederiksen labels the idea "absurd." (Source: Wikipedia)

  2019-08-15

• Trump intensifies assertions that the U.S. must acquire Greenland as part of an expansionist policy during his second term. (Source: Wikipedia)

  2025-01-20

• High-level meeting in Washington between U.S. officials (Rubio, Vance) and Danish/Greenlandic delegations to discuss security concerns. (Source: New York Times)

  2026-01-14

Proposed United States acquisition of Greenland

Since the 19th century, the United States has made several attempts to obtain the island of Greenland from Denmark. Historically, the US acquired nearly 40% of its territory through purchase– notably Alaska and the Louisiana purchase. There were notable internal discussions within the US federal government about offering to purchase Greenland in 1867, 1910, 1946, and 1955 and purchase was advocated by American secretaries of state William H. Seward and James F. Byrnes, and privately by Vice President Nelson Rockefeller. After World War II, the US secretly offered to buy Greenland, but it was rejected by Denmark. Since that war, the US has had at least one military base in Greenland. More recently, Donald Trump has asserted during his two presidencies that the US should take over Greenland. In 2019, during his first presidency, Donald Trump expressed his desire for the US to purchase Greenland; it was turned down and described as "absurd" by Danish Prime Minister Mette Frederiksen. During his second presidency, since 2025, Trump has increasingly asserted that the US must acquire Greenland as part of his American expansionism policy. Following Greenlandic and Danish refusals to sell the country, Trump has threatened to invade or annex Greenland, triggering the Greenland crisis. Greenland is an autonomous territory within the Kingdom of Denmark, while Greenlandic and Danish authorities have publicly asserted Greenland's right to self-determination and stated that Greenland is "not for sale". Most Greenlanders oppose an American takeover, and many Danes see the historical ties with Greenland as an integral part of Danish national identity. The US has long viewed Greenland as vital to national security. In the early 20th century, war plans listed Greenland among one of the territories to preemptively seize and fortify in the event of a threatened attack on the US. During World War II, the US invoked its Monroe Doctrine and occupied Greenland to prevent use by Germany following the German occupation of Denmark. The US military remained in Greenland after the war, and by 1948, Denmark abandoned attempts to persuade the US to leave. The following year, both countries became members of the NATO military alliance. A 1951 treaty gave the US a significant role in Greenland's defense, and, about 1953, construction began on Thule military base, now known as Pituffik Space Base, located in northwest Greenland. While the US military often takes part in NATO exercises in Greenlandic waters, the Danish prime minister and the EU defence commisioner have stated that annexation of Greenland by the US would effectively end NATO.

Web Search Results

• Proposed United States acquisition of Greenland - Wikipedia

  An acquisition of Greenland would give the United States control of an island that it sees as crucial to its defense. Reuters described Greenland in October 2020 as "a security black hole" for the United States and allies, and said its 27,000 miles (44,000 km) of coastline was difficult to monitor. "On several occasions since 2006, foreign vessels have turned up unexpectedly or without the necessary protocols, in waters that NATO-member Denmark aims to defend", the news agency reported. Detection of foreign vessels, including a Russian submarine, has often been by chance. A potential security threat are Russian ships believed to have the ability to tap undersea cables or sever them during a conflict. [...] began trying to colonize all of Greenland in the 1880s, and declared sovereignty over the whole island in 1921. [...] ### 1910 proposal [edit] A proposal for acquisition of Greenland was discussed within the American government in 1910 by United States ambassador to Denmark Maurice Francis Egan. As suggested by Danish "persons of importance" who were friends of Egan, the United States would trade Mindanao and Palawan for Greenland and the Danish West Indies; Denmark could then trade Mindanao and Palawan to Germany for Northern Schleswig. Denmark regained Northern Schleswig from Germany after the German defeat in World War I following the 1920 Schleswig plebiscites. ### Treaty of the Danish West Indies [edit] Appendix to the Treaty of the Danish West Indies

• The Trump Administration's Push for Greenland: What to Know

  The United States could legally acquire Greenland with the consent of the Danish government, which would also hinge on the agreement of Greenland’s self-ruling parliament. (The United States made such a purchase when it bought Alaska from Russia in 1867.) Some experts say Washington could also pursue a Compact of Free Association with Greenland, establishing a relationship where the territory is self-governing but still closely tied to the United States for economic assistance and defense. The United States has these treaties already in place with Micronesia, the Marshall Islands, and Palau. However, such a deal would still require approval from both the Greenlandic and Danish governments. [...] U.S. President Donald Trump continues to press for the U.S. acquisition of Greenland, a semi-autonomous territory of Denmark and the world’s largest island. Trump’s renewed interest—he made similar statements as president in 2019—is rooted in the Arctic territory’s economic and strategic qualities. “We need Greenland for national security,” Trump said in his March address to Congress. More From Our Experts Lauren Kahn Trump’s $1.5 Trillion Defense Budget Should Not Come as a Surprise Erin D. Dumbacher Trump’s $1.5 Trillion Defense Budget Should Not Come as a Surprise David Sacks Trump’s Strikes on Venezuela Will Not Embolden China to Invade Taiwan [...] Meanwhile, Greenland’s ice sheet, which covers roughly 80 percent of the island, is experiencing accelerating melting, making Arctic trade routes more navigable; these include the Northeast and Northwest Passages. Greater availability could potentially open up shorter and faster trade routes between Asia, Europe, and North America, positioning Greenland as an international maritime hub. #### Could the Trump administration acquire Greenland? Trump’s push to take Greenland echoes other territorial aims expressed at the start of his second term, including regaining control of the Panama Canal—which the United States officially turned over to Panama in 1999—and making Canada the fifty-first U.S. state.

• What Did the White House and Denmark Agree to on ...

  Karoline Leavitt, the White House press secretary, told reporters that a delegation from Denmark and Greenland had agreed “to continue to have technical talks on the acquisition of Greenland.” Denmark’s foreign minister, Lars Lokke Rasmussen, said the agreement at Wednesday’s meeting had in fact been “to launch a high-level working group to explore if a common way forward can be found to address the American security concerns in relation to Greenland.”

• Buying Greenland could cost as much as $700 billion - NBC News

  Greenland, the semi-autonomous territory of the kingdom of Denmark, is not for sale. Officials from Denmark and Greenland have rejected Trump’s claims that the U.S. will acquire Greenland “one way or the other.” A senior White House official, however, said Secretary of State Marco Rubio has been directed to come up with a proposal in the coming weeks to purchase Greenland, describing such a plan as a “high priority” for Trump. On Wednesday, Rubio and Vice President JD Vance are scheduled to meet with officials from Denmark and Greenland, who traveled to Washington seeking a better understanding of Trump’s intentions and proposals. The meeting follows lower-level discussions last week between officials from Denmark and Greenland and the White House National Security Council. [...] The U.S. in 1916 agreed to buy islands in the Caribbean from Denmark and, in turn, acknowledged that the U.S. “will not object” to the Danish government’s holding political and economic interests to all of Greenland, according to the agreement at the time. Trump has said he wants to acquire Greenland to have more rights to the land, comparing it to owning versus leasing a property. Ownership could make Greenland akin to a U.S. territory such as Guam, American Samoa or Puerto Rico and solidify Washington’s strategic relationship with the island for the long term. [...] Trump’s desire to acquire Greenland stems in part from concerns that its residents could seek independence and that, if they are successful, the island’s 27,000 miles of coastline could fall into the hands of adversaries such as Russia or China, according to some experts on the issue and congressional testimony from former U.S. officials. Greenlanders reject the idea of becoming part of the U.S. by a large margin. An independent poll last year concluded that about 85% rejected the idea.

• Why is Greenland part of the Kingdom of Denmark? A Short History

  It is in this context that President Donald Trump saw an opening to acquire Greenland. American strategic interests in Greenland are not new, but stretch back into the 19th century. Extensive U.S. involvement in Greenland, however, did not materialize until the Second World War, triggered by the German invasion of Denmark on April 9, 1940. As such, the German occupation of Denmark put Greenland in a peculiar position and caused worry in the United States that Greenland’s geography could eventually be used against it. For that reason, Washington reacted favorably when the Danish ambassador to the U.S., Henrik Kauffmann, took the rather unusual step of proposing himself as the true representative of free Denmark, cutting bonds with the occupied country. Kauffmann offered the United States [...] When the monarchy of Denmark and Norway broke apart in 1814, Denmark kept Greenland. Danish-Greenlandic colonial relations in the 19th and early 20th centuries were characterized by a Danish paternalistic policy for cautious development, ensuring that Greenland would be a profitable colony. In 1916, Denmark’s rights to Greenland were confirmed by the United States, as part of a deal that facilitated the American purchase of the Danish West Indies. A controversy concerning a Norwegian claim to parts of Greenland ended in 1933, when the Permanent Court of International Justice, founded by the League of Nations, ruled against Norway. [...] After the Second World War, the United Nations pushed for decolonization in Greenland. In 1953, the former colony was incorporated into Denmark and granted two seats in the Danish Parliament. In 1979, Greenland achieved Home Rule, which included the formation of the Greenlandic Parliament, and it gained self-rule in 2009 through the passage of a law that included a ‘blueprint’ for seeking independence. The 2009 law firmly established that the decision to go for independence from Denmark would now rest with the Greenlandic people.