Trump Wants to Give Greenlanders $10 a Year If They Decide to Join the US

President Trump's long-standing goal of annexing Greenland to the United States has moved from rhetoric to official White House policy. His administration is pushing a formal plan to purchase the Arctic island from Denmark, writes The New York Times.

Photo: Luis Leamus | Dreamstime.com

The plan involves several departments, all aimed at making Trump's desire for Greenland, whose economic and strategic value has increased as warming temperatures melt the Arctic ice, a reality.

Greenland's 2 square kilometers (166 sq mi) area gives former Manhattan developer Trump a chance to make what he may consider one of the greatest deals in real estate history.
Danish officials insist the sparsely populated island is not for sale and cannot be annexed. But Trump has made clear his intention to control it.

On the subject: Trump did not rule out the use of force to annex Greenland and the Panama Canal to the US

"We need Greenland for national security, even international security. We are working with all parties to try to get it," he told Congress last month.
"One way or another, we will get it," the 47th president said.

The White House National Security Council recently issued specific guidance to several agencies.

The full details of the plan are unclear. The emphasis is on persuasion rather than coercion, and includes a campaign to persuade Greenland's 57 people to ask to join the United States.

Trump’s advisers have discussed using advertising and social media campaigns to influence public opinion on the island, another person familiar with the matter said. That could be a difficult task. In last month’s election, an opposition party advocating for early independence and closer ties with the United States came in second but won only a quarter of the vote.

Last month, Trump posted a 90-second video on social media praising the “blood and courage” of American troops who manned the island during World War II to prevent a possible Nazi invasion after Germany occupied Denmark. Although Denmark hoped the American forces would leave after the war, they stayed, and the U.S. still maintains a military base there.

The Trump administration is also exploring financial incentives for Greenlanders, including replacing Denmark's $600 million subsidies with an annual payment of about $10 per Greenlander.

Some Trump officials believe those costs could be covered by new revenues from Greenland's natural resource extraction, including rare earth minerals, copper, gold, uranium and oil.
Trump officials argue that American capital and industrial might can provide access to the island's largely untapped mineral wealth in a way that Denmark cannot.

"We're talking about critical minerals," Trump's national security adviser Michael Waltz told Fox News in January.

But analysts disagree that mining the island's cold regions will be easy. And explaining the massive spending to American voters when Trump has tasked the world's richest man, Elon Musk, with cutting the federal budget by $1 trillion may be difficult.

Trump’s interest in Greenland is not new: During his first term, he was serious enough to direct national security officials to study the idea. But after he began discussing it publicly, Greenlandic officials balked, and Trump did not pursue what was considered a fantasy.
After being re-elected last fall, the returning White House chief renewed his aspirations with greater fervor.

"Let's do this," he demanded of his assistants.

"President Trump views Greenland as a strategically important location and is confident that Greenlanders will be better protected by the United States from modern threats in the Arctic region," said National Security Council spokesman Brian Hughes.

He noted that Michael Waltz and Vice President J.D. Vance recently visited Greenland and "made a strong case for a partnership between Greenland and the United States to build long-term peace at home and shared prosperity abroad."

Some analysts believe that the idea of ​​Greenland being incorporated into the United States, or at least moving closer to the island, is not as absurd as it seems. This is largely due to climate change, which is thawing the resource-rich territories and making them commercially attractive. Warmer temperatures have also opened up new sea routes through the Arctic for commercial shipping, as well as for Chinese and Russian military vessels.

But Trump's promises to control Greenland "one way or another" sound like naked imperialism to many in the world.

Several U.S. presidents considered acquiring Greenland. The Truman administration during World War II offered Denmark the equivalent of $1 billion for it in 1946.
Denmark has exercised various forms of control over Greenland for centuries and recognized it as part of its kingdom in 1953. Today, Greenland runs its own internal affairs with a budget subsidized 60% by Denmark. Denmark is responsible for Greenland's defense and foreign policy. Many of Greenland's leaders support independence, but disagree on the timing and whether to move closer to the United States.

For their part, Denmark’s leaders are shocked by Trump’s talk of buying or seizing the island, and insist that Greenlanders should be free to determine their own destiny. During a visit to Greenland last week, Danish Prime Minister Mette Frederiksen denounced the Trump administration’s “pressure and threats,” saying “you can’t annex another country.”

Amid fierce resistance from Denmark, the Trump administration is moving to directly court the Greenlanders.

Addressing them during his speech to Congress, the US President said: “We strongly support your right to determine your future and, if you choose, welcome you to the United States of America.”

"We will keep you safe," he assured. "We will make you rich."

Vance expressed similar sentiments on March 28 during a visit to a U.S. military base on the island.
Speaking to reporters, Vance noted that Greenlanders "will choose through self-determination to become independent from Denmark, and then we will negotiate with the people of Greenland."

Trump and his senior officials have not yet publicly linked Greenland's Inuit population to American Inuit in Alaska, as envisaged in a plan approved by the National Security Council.

But the connection was noted in December by Robert O'Brien, one of Trump's national security advisers when he was the 45th president.

Denmark, O'Brien told Fox News, "could let us buy Greenland, and Greenland could become part of Alaska. The native people of Greenland are very close to the people of Alaska, and we would make it part of Alaska."

It’s unclear how much that message will resonate on the island. Although Alaskans receive a share of the state’s oil revenues in the form of annuities, Alaska’s Inuit face poverty and poor health care.

Danish leaders say the American pressure campaign is already damaging the US-Denmark alliance that was forged after World War II.

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“We looked up to you,” Frederiksen said of America during a visit to Greenland this month. “You inspired us. You stood for the free world.”

However, she then stressed: “But when you demand to seize part of the kingdom’s territory, when we are subjected to pressure and threats, what should we think about the country we have admired for so many years?”

Read also on ForumDaily:

Denmark Raises Money to Buy California in Response to Trump's Greenland Overtures

Trump is going to return the Panama Canal, buy Greenland and annex Canada to the US

'We are making a revolution of common sense': What Trump said in his address to Congress

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