President-elect Donald Trump is once again touting his plans to buy Greenland, the Danish territory in the Arctic.
Trump escalated rhetoric around the island during a press conference Tuesday, refusing to rule out the use of military force to get ahold of it if needed.
The island, with 56,000 inhabitants, is an autonomous territory of Denmark, and both the Danish government and local authorities have repeatedly said that the island is not for sale. Denmark ruled over it for more than 200 years and retains some control over its defense and foreign policy.
“People don’t even know if Denmark has any legal right to it,” Trump claimed. “But if they do, they should give it up because we need it for national security.”
House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries questioned Trump’s “obsession” with the territory on Wednesday – and it is something that has captured the president-elect’s imagination for many years.
The idea of buying Greenland initially came to Trump from cosmetics billionaire Ronald Lauder, according to the 2022 book The Divider: Trump in the White House, 2017-2021 by Peter Baker of The New York Times and Susan Glasser of The New Yorker. Trump and Lauder have known each other since their college days.
The notion was subject to months of internal study and debate, much to the bemusement of cabinet secretaries and aides to the president.
“A friend of mine, a really, really experienced businessman, thinks we can get Greenland,” Trump told his National Security adviser, according to the book. “What do you think?”
That prompted the creation of a team to look into the idea, and the creation of memo laying out the options, such as a lease proposal, much like a New York real estate agreement.
Following a meeting in the Oval Office, a member of the cabinet found the idea of acquiring Greenland delusional. There was fear among some aides that the idea leaking out would lead to a diplomatic incident, according to the Times.
The National Security Council staff worked on the issue for months, for Trump to subsequently claim it was his idea all along.
“I said, ‘Why don’t we have that?’” he told the authors. “You take a look at a map. I’m a real estate developer. I look at a corner, I say, ‘I’ve got to get that store for the building that I’m building,’ etc. It’s not that different.”
“I love maps. And I always said: ‘Look at the size of this. It’s massive. That should be part of the United States,’” he added at the time.
But in fact Lauder, the Estée Lauder heir, had spoken to Trump about the idea at the beginning of his presidency, even offering himself as a back channel to the Danish government to negotiate, according to the book.
The national security adviser at the time, John Bolton, told his aide Fiona Hill to put together a team to look at possible ideas. They took part in secret discussions with the Danish ambassador and wrote up an options memo.
Bolton was worried about the expanding influence of China in the Arctic and believed an increased American footprint on the island would be a good thing, but that buying the territory would not be possible.
But Trump remained undeterred.
The then-president put forward the idea of taking federal funds from Puerto Rico to buy Greenland and on a separate occasion, suggested trading the U.S. territory for the Danish one.
The Wall Street Journal eventually reported on the interest in Greenland, and the Danish government rubbished the idea.
“When it became public, they lost their political courage,” Trump said in 2021, according to The Times, despite the fact that the Danes had never actually considered selling the territory.
But Bolton thought the U.S. had lost the opportunity to get a better security deal, even as the U.S. would eventually reopen a consulate on the island.
“If Trump had just kept his mouth shut, we could have found out. But it was just gone, just completely gone,” he told others, according to the authors.
A Trump envoy in the shape of Donald Trump Jr. recently visited the island.
“I am hearing that the people of Greenland are ‘MAGA’,” Trump wrote on Truth Social on Monday night. “My son, Don Jr, and various representatives, will be traveling there to visit some of the most magnificent areas and sights. Greenland is an incredible place, and the people will benefit tremendously if, and when, it becomes part of our Nation. We will protect it, and cherish it, from a very vicious outside World. MAKE GREENLAND GREAT AGAIN!”
On Tuesday morning, he shared a video of his plane landing in Nuuk, the capital.
“Don Jr. and my Reps landing in Greenland. The reception has been great,” he wrote. “They, and the Free World, need safety, security, strength, and PEACE! This is a deal that must happen.”
