Who controls Greenland, and why is Trump obsessed with buying it?

Since his first term, President-elect Donald Trump has insisted that the United States should purchase Greenland - to the bewilderment of aides asked to investigate such a possibility, and despite repeated denials by top officials in Greenland and Denmark, of which the island is an autonomous territory, that it would ever be for sale at any price.

As he prepares to assume office, Trump has returned to the idea. “For purposes of National Security and Freedom throughout the World, the United States of America feels that the ownership and control of Greenland is an absolute necessity,” the president-elect wrote on Truth Social, his social media platform, over the weekend, in a statement announcing his choice for ambassador to Denmark. Kenneth Howery, the newly announced pick, is a co-founder of PayPal.

The Arctic island, which is roughly three times the size of Texas, has a population of about 57,000 people. It is on the North American continent, to Canada’s northeast, but is in practice part of Europe and is an autonomous territory of Denmark, which ruled over the island for more than 200 years and still maintains some control over its foreign policy.

[Trump again calls for buying Greenland after eyeing Panama Canal]

Greenland’s prime minister, Múte Egede, echoed previous statements from Greenland’s leaders on the occasion of similar overtures from Trump during his first term. “We are not for sale and will never be for sale,” Egede said.

Here’s what we know about Trump’s call for the United States to own Greenland.

Why does Trump want Greenland?

Trump says owning the island is a national security objective for the United States. The U.S. military has a base on the island, Pituffik Space Base, a strategic location for missile defense and space surveillance missions, according to the U.S. Space Force. The base was erected in the early years of the Cold War.

At well over 800,000 square miles, the island is enormous and rich with natural resources including oil and rare earth minerals such as neodymium and dysprosium, both of which originate most often from China and Russia, according to the Royal Society of Chemistry.

Trump’s idea to purchase the country during his first term was echoed by Sen. Tom Cotton (R-Arkansas), who penned an op-ed in the New York Times in 2019 on the strategic benefits of purchasing Greenland, citing a 2016 attempt by China to purchase an old American naval base there and multiple Chinese attempts to construct airports on the island.

Who owns Greenland?

Greenland is part of Denmark, which also maintains as an autonomous territory the Faroe Islands in the northern Atlantic. The island was ruled by Denmark from the early 18th century until 1979, and is largely self-ruled now, at least for local matters, according to a Danish national government website.

Greenland approved the Self-Government Act in 2009, which allowed for more home rule - but left defense and foreign policy issues to Denmark.

“The Greenlandic people have their own rights,” Martin Lidegaard, a former Danish foreign minister who was then the chairman of the Danish Parliament’s foreign policy committee, told The Washington Post in 2019.

Greenlanders are citizens of Denmark and have two representatives in Danish Parliament. Greenland’s Indigenous people make up a majority of the population.

Is Greenland for sale?

Greenland is not for sale, nor have officials from Greenland or Denmark alluded to a potential sale.

Has the United States tried to buy Greenland before?

Yes. President Andrew Johnson’s administration commissioned a report in the 1860s that found Greenland’s natural resources might make it a strategic investment, but the idea did not gain momentum.

Shortly after the end of World War II, President Harry S. Truman’s administration’s made a $100 million offer for the island.

The idea of expanding the United States by purchasing land isn’t new. In 1803, the U.S. purchased 530 million acres of land from France for $15 million in what became known as the Louisiana Purchase. Almost 65 years later, the United States bought Alaska from Russia for $7.2 million. For years, skeptics called the purchase “Seward’s Folly,” though the discovery of gold deposits decades later reversed those sentiments.

How much would it cost to buy Greenland?

In a purely hypothetical exercise, The Post estimated in 2019 that the purchase of Greenland could cost up to $1.7 trillion, given the island’s industries and natural resources. Of course, it does not have a real cost if it is not for sale in the first place.