WASHINGTON, D.C. — President-elect Donald Trump's plan to purchase Greenland would be the largest territorial addition in U.S. history, even surpassing the Louisiana Purchase of 1803, which nearly doubled the size of the United States at the time.
President Trump, 78, on Sunday announced that he would nominate PayPal co-founder Ken Howley to be U.S. ambassador to Denmark, which has ruled the vast territory for more than 300 years, spurring a push to acquire the Arctic island. .
“For the sake of national security and freedom around the world, the United States feels that ownership and control of Greenland is absolutely necessary,” Trump wrote.
Greenland's area of 836,330 square miles is slightly larger than the 827,987 square miles acquired by the United States in the Louisiana Purchase between then-President Thomas Jefferson and France.
Trump's acquisition is more than twice the size of President James Polk's annexation of the Republic of Texas in 1845, which included disputed territory that is now part of neighboring states.
The Trump administration's proposed move would also exceed the 591,000 square miles that President Andrew Johnson purchased in Alaska in 1867.
Most of the sparsely populated Greenland's 56,000 residents are Inuit, with ties to other indigenous groups along the northernmost tip of Canada and Alaska, and are generally free from Copenhagen on request under a 2009 law. permission to sever the relationship.
In 2019, then-President Trump expressed interest in purchasing Greenland, which borders the North Atlantic shipping lane and is home to important radar and weather facilities, but the idea was rejected by Danish and Greenlandic officials. It was immediately rejected.
A year later, in the final year of President Trump's first term, White House and Treasury aides took a hard look at how to make the purchase happen, including identifying financial resources that could be used for the initial stages and planning of the project. It's a blueprint for a diplomatic charm offensive, sources told the Post.
“We were moving quickly on these things right up until the last day,” said Thomas Dans, a former Treasury Department official. “Our hope was that the Biden administration would realize this. We were ready to do something.”
President Trump's aides who had previously worked on the plan decided that the people of Greenland held the key and needed to be persuaded that it was in their best interest to join the United States.
Currently, relatively poor residents rely heavily on annual lump sum subsidies from the Danish government. The roughly $500 million in grants account for about 20% of Greenland's GDP and half of its public budget. According to International Trade Bureau.
“It's almost like old-fashioned indentured servitude, with Greenlanders continuing to rely on economic subsidies sent to them by Denmark and essentially having to find their way to a new future on their own. ,” Dans said. “They're asset-rich but cash-poor, so they're stuck in place, so to speak.”
Dans, whose grandfather was deployed to Greenland during World War II, brought one of the island's top social media influencers, Jørgen Voerssen, to the president-elect's Election Day watch party in the West. He continues to contribute to winning the hearts of the residents, such as by going to the museum. November 5th, Palm Beach, Florida.
In theory, Greenlanders would be presented with a Trump administration plan to improve their economic position and ensure continued autonomy, and then vote on whether to accept the plan, prior to handover. It will be approved by the Copenhagen parliament.
But Greenland's Prime Minister Mute Egede said this week: “Greenland is ours.
“We are not and never will be for sale. We must not lose our age-old struggle for freedom,” the Prime Minister said.
Dans said Greenland would most likely have to be acquired through the Agreement of Free Association. This is similar to what the United States already has with the nominally independent Pacific islands of Palau, the Marshall Islands, and Micronesia, each of which has a seat at the United Nations but is dependent on them. This places a huge burden on the United States.
As is the case with these Pacific countries, it is unclear whether Greenland is considered independent or whether the special regime implies closer integration. Other less populated areas in the Pacific, such as Niue and the Cook Islands, are associated with New Zealand and are not considered independent internationally.
“All of these Compacts of Free Association are custom-built,” Dans says.
Trump has also hinted at the possibility of other U.S. acquisitions, saying over the weekend that the U.S. could try to retake the Panama Canal Zone, given to Panama by President Jimmy Carter in 1979. President Trump has said he is furious about the high fees Central American countries charge on U.S. shipping in the region and is concerned about the sea routes if the country's neutrality is threatened by China.
Panama's president has already publicly expressed strong opposition to the concept.
The United States has not added significant territory in nearly a century.
President Woodrow Wilson presided over the $25 million purchase of the 136-square-mile U.S. Virgin Islands from Denmark in 1917, and the U.S. acquired four of the Pacific islands formerly controlled by Japan at the end of World War II. He took over trusteeship over two territories, leaving only the northern part. The Mariana Islands remain a U.S. territory.
President Trump's aides and allies say he is not joking when he says he might add Greenland and take back the Panama Canal.
A source close to President Trump said, “The president is 100% serious.''
“President Trump believes that an empire that doesn't grow will start to decline,” said another person close to the campaign. He is a student of history, and this is one of the schools of thought.
“He really supports past presidents who were continental expansionists. He knows that's a legacy that can't be distorted or taken away by political opponents.”
