Greenland as a new American state? An old idea for sure. Donald Trump may have proposed twice – in 2019 and in 2024 – to buy back this 2 million km² territory four times the size of France, he is not the first American president to have thought about it. In 1946, Democrat Harry Truman already offered $100 million in gold bars to Denmark to acquire it. Why such an offer? The military authorities were in favor of it. At the time, they even considered the transaction a necessity. The purchase of Greenland gave the United States the possibility of building military bases to counter possible attacks by Soviet bombers.
The Associated Press agency website reveals some details of the story, based on declassified documents. “In fact, one of the solutions considered was for the United States to exchange land in the Point Barrow district of Alaska for the parts of Greenland that it considered to have military value. As part of this plan, the Danes would have received the rights to the discovered oil and would have had to sell it to the United States.
Secretary of State James Byrnes announced this offer to Danish Foreign Minister Gustav Rasmussen, visiting New York on December 14, 1946. But it did not have the desired effect: “Our needs… seemed “Shocked Rasmussen, but he did not reject my suggestions outright and said he would study a memorandum I gave him,” James Byrnes testified.
Nearly 80 years later, Marc Thiessen, White House speechwriting director (2007–2009), continues to believe that Denmark made a masterful mistake that day. “In 1967, the richest oil discovery in US history took place in the Point Barrow region. Bad decision, Denmark! Sad!”, he wrote in an analysis dated 2019, which is circulating again on social networks.
Buy… or rent
But the Danish “no” is above all a brake on the ambition of the United States. As Marc Thiessen points out, Greenland has vast mineral wealth, resources that Denmark has not been able or willing to exploit: zinc, lead, gold, diamonds, copper and uranium. This area is also of interest because of its rare earth elements, currently supplied to the United States by China.
“By purchasing Greenland, we would have control of these strategically important minerals. Militarily, this would keep out China and Russia, both of which have aggressively targeted the Arctic by setting up bases, scientific research stations and strategic investments”, explains the expert.
Of course, this Donald Trump sympathizer will not say a word about the environmental consequences of the economic exploitation of Greenland or about the legitimacy of the United States in claiming one more territory. In his editorial, on the contrary, he recalls the numerous acquisitions of territories made by the United States with dollars, such as the purchase in 1867 of Alaska from Russia for a little more than 7 million dollars. Denmark refuses, for the moment, any proposal of this style. But he could end up giving in one day, pro-Trump people say. Very pragmatic, one of them concludes: if we cannot buy Greenland, we can probably rent it.