WASHINGTON – The president’s old goal of incorporating Greenland into the United States has evolved from rhetoric to official politics, while the White House advances with a formal plan to acquire the Arctic Island of Denmark.
The plan mobilizes various government departments around Trump’s desire, whose Greenland’s strategic and economic vision has grown as the melting of glaciers in Arctic increases their value.
With an area of 2,166,086 square kilometers, Greenland also represents for Trump, former New York Real Estate Development, the opportunity to do what he can consider one of the largest real estate business in history.
Danish authorities emphatically insist that the island, poorly populated, is not for sale and cannot be attached. However, Trump made clear his determination to control it.
“We need Greenland for national and even international security, and we are working with everyone involved to try to conquer it,” he told a speech to Congress last month.
“In one way or another, we’ll make it,” Trump added.
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The White House National Security Council has already held several meetings to transform Trump’s words into action and sent specific instructions to different government agencies, according to a US officer.
Although the full details of the plan remain obscure, the deliberations led by the board never seriously considered military options, despite Trump’s allusions to the use of strength.
Policy prioritizes persuasion rather than coercion, including a public relations campaign to convince Greenland’s 57,000 inhabitants to ask to join the United States.
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Trump’s advisers discussed the use of advertising campaigns and social networks to influence public opinion on the island, according to another source informed on the subject.
However, it can be a challenge. In a recent election, an opposition party that defends faster independence and narrower ties with the US was in second place, but with only a quarter of the votes.
The US messaging campaign will include an unlikely appeal to the shared heritage of the Greenlanders with Alaska’s native peoples, about 4,000 kilometers away, according to the officer.
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Greenland’s innable population has descended from people who have migrated from Alaska for hundreds of years, and the official language of the island has been drifted from infitable dialects originated in the Canadian Arctic.
Trump’s advisers have begun to present public arguments, claiming that Denmark has been a bad administrator of the island, that only the US can protect it against Russia and China, and that America will help the greenlanders “get rich,” as Trump said.
Administration also recalls that the US has defended Greenland before.
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Last month, Trump published a 90 -second video on social networks celebrating the “courage and bravery” of US troops that held positions on the island during World War II to avoid a Nazi invasion after Denmark’s occupation by Germany.
Although Denmark expected US forces to leave after the war, they never left, and the US still maintains a military base there.
Trump administration is also studying financial incentives for the Greenlanders, including the possibility of replacing the $ 600 million in subsidies that Denmark provides to the island for an annual payment of about $ 10,000 per inhabitant.
Some officers believe that these costs could be compensated for new revenues from Greenland’s natural resources, such as rare minerals, copper, gold, uranium and oil.
They argue that US capital and industrial force can access these mineral riches largely unexplored in a way that Denmark cannot.
“This is about critical minerals,” Trump National Security Counselor Michael Waltz told Fox News in January. “This is about natural resources.”
However, analysts do not universally agree that it will be simple to profit from mining in the still icy regions of the island. In addition, justifying significant spending on US voters can be difficult, especially while Trump charges Elon Musk to cut $ 1 trillion from the federal government.
Trump’s interest in Greenland is not new: he was serious enough in his first term to charge national security officers to explore the idea. But after starting to discuss this publicly, Greenland officials rejected the idea, which was treated as a fantasy.
Since his reelection last fall, Trump has renewed his desire with greater intensity. “Let’s make it happen,” he demanded from his advisers.
“Trump believes Greenland is a strategically important location and is confident that the Greenlanders would be better protected by the US against modern threats in the Arctic region,” said National Security Council spokesman Brian Hughes.
Hughes pointed out that Waltz and Vice President JD Vance recently visited Greenland and “presented the important case for a partnership between Greenland and the US to establish lasting peace and shared prosperity.”
Some analysts say that the idea of incorporating Greenland into the US, or at least developing narrower ties with the island, is less absurd than it seems, mainly due to climate change, which are thawing areas rich in resources and making them more commercially viable.
Higher temperatures have also opened new sea routes for the Arctic for commercial transport – as well as for Chinese and Russian military vessels.
However, Trump’s promises to control Greenland “in one way or another” sound to much of the world as imperialism, along with his conversation about resuming the Panama Canal and even attaching Canada. If the persuasion efforts of management fail, it is possible for Trump to climb his tactics.
Several US presidents have already considered to try to acquire Greenland. The Truman administration, concerned about Nazi threats to the island during World War II, offered Denmark the equivalent of $ 1 billion by her in 1946.
Denmark has been in control over Greenland for centuries and accepted it as part of its kingdom in 1953. Today Greenland manages its own domestic affairs with a subsidized budget up to 60% by Denmark, which also manages its defense and foreign policy.
Many Greenland leaders support independence, but differ from how fast this should happen and they should approach the US.
In turn, Denmark leaders are shocked and furious with Trump’s conversation about buying or taking the island, insisting that the greenlanders must freely determine their own destiny.
During a visit to Greenland last week, Denmark Prime Minister Mette Frederiksen condemned the “pressure and threats” of the Trump administration, saying “another country cannot be attached.”
Amid the fierce resistance of Denmark, the Trump administration is turning to the direct court to the Greenlanders. In his speech to Congress, Trump said, “Let us strongly support his right to determine his own future, and if they choose, we welcome the United States of America.”
“Let’s keep them safe,” he said. “Let’s make them rich.”
Danish leaders argue that the US pressure campaign is damaging the post-World War Alliance with Denmark. “We admired you,” Frederiksen said about the US during his visit to Greenland this month. “You inspired us. You protected the free world.”
“But,” she added, “When you demand to take part in the territory of the kingdom – when we are subjected to pressure and threats – what should we think of the country we admire for so many years?”
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