“Peaceful takeover”
How much does Greenland cost? Trump has plans created
Updated on April 6th, 2025 – 2:39 p.m.Reading time: 3 min.
Donald Trump wants to take over Greenland. But at all costs? The White House probably already has estimates for a purchase price.
Donald Trump does not give up: The US government is currently making an estimate about the possible costs of taking over Greenland. The “Washington Post” reports on this, citing three sources in the White House. It is therefore about a “peaceful takeover” of the autonomous Denmark territory using financial means and without military violence. As a result, Russell Vaught, head of the Federal Administration and Household Manager, is responsible.
According to the report, one option is to offer the Greenland government a better “deal” than Denmark is currently doing. The EU state is currently subsidizing Greenland with around 550 million euros annually, which is more than a third of the Greenland household. The “Washington Post” reports that the Trump government wants to offer its counterpart on the island of the North Atlantic is a “far higher” amount-however, it is not known.
- You can read current developments in US politics in the news blog.
Greenland’s head of government rejects Trump
Trump and his administration assume that the newly elected government of Greenland will be more comfortable to the White House in mid -March than its predecessors. Jan-Frederik Nielsen is the new head of government. The social library will lead a broad coalition from four of the five parliamentary parties. His party democracy is in favor of independence from Denmark.
However, this does not mean that Nielsen Greenland wants to put under the US protective shield. “Let me tell me clearly: The USA does not get Greenland. We don’t belong to anyone else. We determine our future ourselves,” Nielsen wrote on Saturday after Donald Trump explained again that the USA will get Greenland “100 %”. Read more about this here.
How much does Greenland cost? And how much is the island really worth?
The second option of the US government is therefore to buy Greenland. Trump had already caught this plan during his first term between 2017 and 2021, but nothing came of it. According to the newspaper report, the White House analyzes how high the costs could be – apparently under the premise that the Greenlanders would vote for a takeover and support them. In addition, the US population would also have to be convinced that the takeover would be worth the high costs.
At the center of the considerations are the rich raw material deposits on the island. The Trump government assumes that the reduction in resources could cover the costs of taking over in the future. According to calculations by the Middle Rights Denkfabrik American Action Forum, the value of the well-known reserves is $ 200 billion (around 185 billion euros). Accordingly, if one includes the strategic value of the island-i.e. the shortening of trade routes and military interests-would increase in Greenland’s price to around $ 2.8 trillion (around 2.6 trillion euros).
However, it is not clear whether such an investment would actually be worthwhile. Because of their remote location and hard weather conditions, the Greenland raw material deposits are difficult to be accessible. In addition, the government there had rejected several plans to reduce oil and gas in the past.
Trump-Vice traveled to Greenland
Trump has repeatedly emphasized in the past few months to want to take control of the largest island on earth – something that was clearly rejected by Greenland and from the Danish side. Trump had already registered similar requirements for Canada and the Panama Canal. According to the “Washington Post”, the US government considers the takeover of Greenland to be “easiest”.
The Trump government recently increased the pressure by traveling to Greenland for a few hours, but not to the capital Nuuk, but to the secluded US military base Pituffik in the north of the island. Read more about the controversial visit here.
