President-elect Donald Trump has revived his controversial proposal for the United States to purchase Greenland, the autonomous Danish territory. Trump first floated the idea in 2019 during his first term, but it was met with firm rejection from Danish and Greenlandic leaders. Now, with his second term set to begin in less than two weeks, Trump is revisiting the plan, and his son Donald Trump Jr. travelled to Nuuk, Greenland on Tuesday with other representatives of the incoming administration.
Danish Prime Minister Mette Frederiksen and other politicians have reiterated their stance that 'Greenland is not for sale.' Frederiksen previously stated, 'Greenland is not Danish. Greenland is Greenlandic.' Trump's renewed interest has sparked fury in Denmark, reminiscent of the 2019 incident when he cancelled a state visit after Frederiksen's remarks.
Estimates of the potential cost vary widely. One comparison is the US purchase of Alaska from Russia in 1867 for $7.2 million (about $153.5 million today). Greenland is 1.5 times larger than Alaska, suggesting a price of around $230.25 million. Another metric is the 1946 US offer of $100 million in gold for Greenland, equivalent to over $1.6 billion today. However, Greenland's GDP stood at $3.24 billion in 2021, far exceeding these figures. The US purchased the US Virgin Islands from Denmark in 1917 for $25 million in gold (about $616.2 million today), and the Louisiana Purchase from France in 1803 cost $15 million (about $418.8 million today).
It remains unclear how much Trump would need to offer, and whether Congress would approve the allocation of funds for such an acquisition. Under the US Constitution, Congress must approve any purchase of new territory. Trump posted on Truth Social that the deal 'must happen,' but Greenlandic and Danish leaders remain adamant that the territory is not for sale.
