Trump needs to purchase Greenland: Here’s how a lot it might price the United States

Donald Trump is renewing his calls for the U.S. to purchase Danish’s autonomous territory of Greenland.

The president-elect originally floated the idea 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.

Now, with less than two weeks until he begins a second term, Trump is revisiting the idea – and his son Donald Trump Jr. traveled to Nuuk, Greenland on Tuesday with other ‘representatives’ of the incoming U.S. president.

Multiple politicians, including Danish Prime Minister Mette Frederiksen, sent a clear message to Trump: ‘Greenland is not for sale.’

But if it were, how much would it cost the U.S.?

Some have said the best comparison is looking at the U.S. purchase of Alaska from Russia in 1967. Both Alaska and Greenland have cold, arctic climates, similarly scarce population density, strategic geographic placement and a richness of oil reserves.

The U.S. purchased Alaska, which is 586,412 square miles, for $7.2 million. In today’s dollars, that equates to around $153.5 million.

Greenland is about 1.5 times the size of Alaska at 836,000 square miles. So by boosting that price by 50 percent, the total would come to approximately $230.25 million.

Donald Trump is again floating the idea of buying Greenland, a proposal he put forward in the summer of 2019 but was rejected by Danish and Greenlandic political leaders who said: ‘Greenland is not for sale’ 

Another metric is to look at previous attempts or considerations to buy Greenland.

In 1946, the U.S. thought of buying the arctic island with $100 million in gold. That would equate to more than $1.6 billion today.

Both of these calculations, however, come in way under what Greenland’s gross domestic product was, which stood at $3.24 billion in U.S. Dollars in 2021.

Looking at other past land purchases, the U.S. bought the U.S. Virgin Islands from Denmark in 1917 for $25 million in gold, which today would equal about $616.2 million.

And from France in 1803, the U.S purchased the vast Louisiana Purchase spanning from the Mississippi River to the Rocky Mountains, for $15 million, which would equal out to approximately $418.8 million today.

The overall answer is that it’s unclear how much Trump would need to dole out of the U.S. coffers if he wanted to go forward with buying Greenland.

And, it’s not immediately known whether Congress, no matter how Trump friendly, would agree with his proposal to purchase.

Under the U.S. Constitution, Congress would need to approve the allocation of money for any such acquisition of new land or territories.

After reports emerged in August 2019 of Trump weighing the purchase, multiple political leaders in Greenland and Denmark rejected the idea of a sale, with some calling it ‘completely ridiculous’ or a ‘joke.’

When it became clear that Trump was serious, Danish PM Frederiksen said: ‘Greenland is not for sale. Greenland is not Danish. Greenland is Greenlandic.’

Frederiksen’s remarks led to Trump canceling on August 20, 2019 his planned state visit to Denmark.

Donald Trump Jr. visited Greenland on Tuesday with three close Trump allies for what was initially being sold as a ‘personal’ trip. It soon became clear that his intentions are to further his father’s intention to buy the arctic territory

At 836,000 square miles, Greenland is a scarcly populated, arctic autonomous territory of Denmark. When comparing it to the purchase of Alaska from Russia in 1967, it can be estimated that Greenland’s total price would come out to approximately $230.25 million – though it’s not likely the same metrics would be use to determine worth

Don Jr. was in Greenland on Tuesday with conservative Turning Point USA founder Charlie Kirk; Sergio Gor, with whom he co-owns Winning Team Publishing; and his father’s incoming deputy chief of staff for legislative, political and public affairs, James Blair.

Right after landing, it was understood that Don Jr. was not there on a personal visit.

Trump posted to Truth Social: ‘Don Jr. and my Reps landing in Greenland. The reception has been great. They, and the Free World, need safety, security, strength, and PEACE! This is a deal that must happen. MAGA. MAKE GREENLAND GREAT AGAIN!’

Don also visited a local lunch spot where he met with members of the community in Nuuk, Greenland and put his father on a speakerphone call so he could directly address some residents of the territory he wants to acquire.

‘I just want to say, it’s a very special place. It needs security for itself, but also needs security, very much, for the world,’ Trump said through the phone. ‘The location really, you see the people and the ships sailing around, and they’re not the right ships. They’re not the ships you want to know about.’

‘You’re so strategically located,’ Trump added.

‘So we need security – our country needs it and the whole world needs it,’ he concluded to some cheers from those listening in to the call.