- Trump wants to buy the island from Denmark
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President Donald Trump would have the power to rename Greenland the ‘Red, White and Blueland’ under a new bill introduced in Congress.
The proposed law gives Trump the authority to enter into negotiations with Denmark to acquire Greenland and give the island the new moniker.
Republican Rep. Buddy Carter of Georgia introduced the bill on Monday. It still needs to pass the House and Senate.
Trump claims America needs the island for security reasons.
On Sunday he also signed an executive order renaming the Gulf of Mexico the Gulf of America.
Denmark’s prime minister has said repeatedly Greenland is ‘not for sale’ but that hasn’t stopped Trump’s fixation on it.
‘I think we’re going to have it,’ he has said. He also claims Greenland’s 57,000 residents ‘want to be with us’ although many on the island say otherwise.
President Donald Trump has a fixation with buying Greenland
Greenland is strategically important given its position in the Atlantic Ocean between the United States and Russia. America already has a military base the island. But it’s also home to many rare earth minerals.
Denmark holds nominal sovereignty over the island, an arrangement dating back to colonial times.
Danish Prime Minister Mette Frederiksen has repeatedly said Greenland is not for sale and has told Trump that in phone calls between the two leaders.
Meanwhile, the Danes have launched their own tongue-in-cheek effort to purchase America’s most prosperous state: California.
An online petition seeking the ‘Denmarkification’ of California has almost 200,000 signatures.
‘Have you ever looked at a map and thought, ‘You know what Denmark needs? More sunshine, palm trees, and roller skates.’ Well, we have a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to make that dream a reality,’ the petition organizers wrote.
Organizers estimate they need $1 trillion to purchase the state from Trump.
They also offered to throw in a lifetime supply of Danish pastries to sweeten the deal.
Trump is not a fan of California’s liberal lifestyle nor its left-leaning Governor, Gavin Newsom. He has called it a ‘failed state.’
Still, he is highly unlike to put it up for sale.
California is the state with the biggest economy in the U.S. with a $4.080 trillion gross state product (GSP) as of 2024. That also makes it the sixth largest economy in the world.
A view of Nuuk, Greeland
A Danish military vessel off of Greenland’s coast
Greenland’s importance has increased in recent years as melting Arctic ice opens new shipping routes, sparking competition among global powers for influence in the strategically located region between the U.S. and Russia.
The territory and its surrounding waters are also abundant in valuable natural resources such as copper, lithium, nickel, cobalt and rare earth elements.
Those are vital components in emerging green technologies, such as wind turbines and electric vehicles, energy storage technologies and national security applications.
Currently, Denmark retains responsibility for Greenland’s defense.
Trump originally floated the idea of acquiring Greenland in his first term in office when discussing the prospect with his senior advisers back in 2019.
But he left office without making any movement toward acquiring the territory. However he did cancel a state visit to Copenhagen when the Danes refused his offer to purchase the island.
The United States tried – and failed – to buy Greenland after World War II. But it did establish the Pituffik Space Base at the northern end of the island.