President-elect Donald Trump’s Republican allies in the US House of Representatives have introduced draft legislation aiming to authorize negotiations for the United States to buy Greenland from Denmark. The island’s pro-independence leader said he was “ready to talk,” after Trump refused to rule out military takeover.
The bill, circulated on Monday by Representative Andy Ogles and backed by ten co-sponsors, would allow Trump to begin talks with Denmark immediately upon his inauguration.
“Congress hereby authorizes the President, beginning at 12:01 p.m. Eastern Standard Time on January 20, 2025, to seek to enter into negotiations with the Kingdom of Denmark for the purchase of Greenland,” the bill states.
The proposal follows Trump’s renewed interest in making Greenland part of the US, calling it an “absolute necessity” for national security and refusing to rule out the use of military or economic pressure to achieve this goal. “People really don’t even know if Denmark has any legal right to [Greenland], but if they do, they should give it up because we need it,” Trump said last week.
Greenland’s Prime Minister Mute Egede reiterated the island’s ambition to gain independence from Denmark last week, emphasizing that the Greenlandic people do not want to be either Danish or American. At the same time, Egede expressed readiness to “talk” with Trump, acknowledging that his refusal to rule out the use of force to acquire Greenland was “serious.”
Greenland is the world’s largest island, located between the Atlantic and Arctic oceans. From the early 19th century to the 1950s, it was a territory under full control of Denmark. During WWII, it was occupied by the US after Denmark proper was captured by Nazi Germany. Currently, the island hosts a US military base and the infrastructure for an early warning system for ballistic missiles.
The island has grown increasingly autonomous and was granted home rule in 1979, ultimately gaining the right in 2009 to declare independence if a referendum passes. “The desire for independence, the wish to be in one’s own house, is probably understood by all people in the world,” Egede stressed, adding that an independence vote “will come soon.”
Greenland is home to fewer than 57,000 people and is 80% covered with ice, but it is rich in gold, silver, copper, and uranium deposits and is believed to have vast oil reserves in its territorial waters.
According to a recent survey by US research firm Patriot Polling, approximately 57% of Greenland’s population supports Trump’s proposal. The poll involved 416 respondents and was conducted earlier this month while Donald Trump Jr., the president-elect’s son, was visiting the island on a “personal day trip.”