E-Paper
Can the US really buy Greenland? Here’s what experts say
The US has revisited the idea of acquiring Greenland, despite Denmark's refusal to sell.
Talk of the United States acquiring Greenland has come up again, despite Denmark’s repeated insistence that the vast Arctic territory is not for sale. This week, the idea resurfaced after the White House acknowledged that President Donald Trump and his advisers have been discussing what a hypothetical purchase of Greenland could look like.
Greenland is an autonomous territory within the Kingdom of Denmark, home to around 56,000 people, as per Reuters, most of them Inuit. It already hosts a US military presence and holds growing strategic importance as climate change opens up Arctic shipping routes and access to resources.
Yet even as Washington frames the discussion as exploratory, the notion of buying a territory like Greenland raises immediate questions. How would such a deal even be valued? And is it feasible under international norms?
Is a US purchase of Greenland even possible?
Experts say the idea quickly runs into fundamental problems.
“There’s not a market for buying and selling countries,” Nick Kounis, chief economist at Dutch bank ABN AMRO, told Reuters, noting there is no accepted framework for putting a price tag on sovereign or semi-autonomous territories.
Also Read: US Secretary Marco Rubio to meet Denmark officials to discuss Greenland next week
Historical precedents offer little guidance.
The US offered Denmark $100 million for Greenland in 1946, an offer Copenhagen rejected. Adjusted for inflation, that would be about $1.6 billion today, but economists say the figure is meaningless given the dramatic growth of both economies since then, according to Reuters.
Earlier US acquisitions such as Alaska and Louisiana are also poor comparisons, since those deals involved willing sellers and vastly different political contexts.
Another approach might be to value Greenland like a company, based on economic output. But Greenland’s GDP, largely driven by fishing, was about $3.6 billion in 2023, according to Denmark’s central bank. That figure excludes the fact that Danish subsidies fund roughly half of Greenland’s public budget, covering services such as healthcare, education and infrastructure.
Resources, politics and sovereignty
Greenland’s mineral and energy potential adds another layer of complexity.
Estimates put the value of its reserves in the hundreds of billions of dollars, though comprehensive geological surveys are incomplete, Reuters reported.
A 2023 study found that 25 of 34 minerals deemed critical by the European Commission are present on the island.
However, oil and gas extraction is banned for environmental reasons, and mining projects have faced strong opposition from Indigenous communities and regulatory hurdles. “Because you are adding the intangible notions of Indigenous peoples’ culture and history, there is no way to price it,” Andreas Østhagen of Norway’s Fridtjof Nansen Institute told Reuters.
For now, Denmark maintains Greenland is not for sale, while US officials say all options remain on the table.
