President Donald Trump is working on a new strategy to claim Greenland for the United States, according to a new report.
Trump has repeatedly stated his desire to annex the island — which is currently an autonomous territory under the kingdom of Denmark — but he has ramped up action in his second presidential term.
Now, The New York Times reports that the Trump administration is reviewing possible financial incentives it could offer to sweeten a deal — including an annual payment of about $10,000 per Greenlander. This would supplant the current $600 million in subsidies that Denmark gives to the island.
“President Trump believes Greenland is a strategically important location, and is confident Greenlanders would be better served protected by the United States from modern threats in the Arctic region,” National Security Council spokesman Brian Hughes told the Times.
Vice President J.D. Vance visited Greenland in March on behalf of the Trump administration. He spoke with service members at Pituffik Space Base, a U.S. Space Force base on the northwestern coast of the country, and claimed that Greenland is currently “not safe” from possible invasion by Russia or China.
“A lot of people are interested in it. A lot of people are making a play,” Vance claimed, per NBC News. “I think that you’d be a lot better coming under the United States security umbrella… Because what Denmark’s security umbrella has meant is, effectively, they’ve passed it all off to brave Americans and hope that we would pick up the tab.”
“Our message to Denmark is very simple — you have not done a good job by the people of Greenland,” he continued. “You have under-invested in the people of Greenland and you have under-invested in the security architecture of this incredible, beautiful land mass.”
Additionally, the VP stated that the U.S. is the only country that will “respect [Greenland’s] sovereignty and respect their security — because their security is very much our security.”
However, the United States’ interest in Greenland is not entirely altruistic. The territory has some of the largest uranium and rare earth deposits in the world, and Trump has repeatedly expressed interest in mining the land, which is rapidly thawing due to climate change.
In his March 4 address to a joint session of Congress, the president spoke directly to the people of Greenland, saying, “We will keep you safe, we will make you rich, and together, we will take Greenland to heights like you have never thought possible before.”
Following an official visit to the territory last week, Danish Prime Minister Mette Frederiksen pushed back at the Trump administration. In her remarks onboard a Danish naval ship, she said that talk of annexing Greenland is an insult to U.S.-Denmark relations and added that, if the U.S. is truly concerned with bolstering Arctic security, the two countries can do so “together.”
“If we let ourselves be divided as allies, then we do our foes a favor,” she said, speaking in English. “And I will do everything that I can to prevent that from happening.”
Addressing the demands of the U.S. government, Frederiksen continued.
“When you ask our businesses to invest in the U.S., they do. When you ask us to spend more on our defense, we do; and when you ask of us to strengthen security in the Arctic, we are on the same page,” she noted.
“But when you demand to take over a part of the Kingdom of Denmark’s territory, when we are met by pressure and by threats from our closest ally, what are we to believe in about the country that we have admired for so many years?” Frederiksen added.
“This is about the world order that we have built together across the Atlantic over generations: you cannot annex another country, not even with an argument about international security.”
By Meredith Kile | People
