Comparatively recently, the news media was abuzz about one of President Trump’s more "outside the box" ideas for the United States to acquire the island of Greenland.
Although this proposal seems like a new idea, there have been a number of efforts by past American governments to convince the Danish government to sell the island.
In 1867, Secretary of State William Seward tried to convince the Danish government to sell Greenland to the United States but his offer of $5.5 million was never formally approved by either the U.S. Congress or Danish government.
The outbreak of World War II and the occupation of Denmark by Germany prompted the United States to occupy Greenland and build several military bases along its coast.
Greenland was seen as a key strategic territory to bolster American efforts to defend North America from attack by Germany.
Its proximity to the North Atlantic shipping lanes was also regarded as being invaluable to the efforts by the U.S. Navy to combat the German U-boats that were sinking alarming numbers of supply ships and troop convoys bound for Europe.
Due to concerns about military attacks being launched by the Soviet Union against Alaska and Canada in the Arctic, Secretary of State James Byrne offered $100 million to the Danish government in 1946 for the island.
Once again, Denmark declined.
The Danish government may have still been smarting from the loss of Iceland, which had declared its independence in 1944 while Denmark was still occupied by Hitler’s forces.
Notwithstanding these setbacks, this idea of purchasing territories claimed by foreign powers has proven to be successful in the past.
In 1803, President Thomas Jefferson negotiated the Louisiana Purchase for $15 million from Napoleon Boneparte — which doubled the size of the country.
In 1867, Secretary of State Seward successfully convinced President Andrew Johnson to secure $7.2 million from Congress to acquire Alaska from the Russian Empire.
And in 1917, beachgoers around the country were delighted to hear that the United States had acquired the Caribbean islands of St. Croix, St. John and St. Thomas from Denmark for the sum of $25 million.
Since the end of World War II in 1945, Denmark has integrated Greenland into the political fold of the Danish kingdom as an autonomous territory. Greenland is responsible for its own internal affairs and its 56,000 residents are Danish citizens.
Denmark has also spent enormous amounts of money to develop the Greenlandic economy— which remains heavily dependent on the export of fish and crustaceans to the current day.
Although Greenland may hold significant mineral resources including oil, the harsh conditions and primitive infrastructure there have deterred mining and oil companies from investing the sums needed to build large-scale extractive operations.
Denmark provides block grants to Greenland (currently in excess of $500 million per annum) that constitute more than half of Greenland’s budget revenue.
Much of these funds are used to support social services including schools, public safety and a national health care system modeled on the Danish system.
Although the Greenlanders have expressed their desire for independence, it's unlikely that Greenland would be able to sustain its current living standards if Denmark were to cut off or even greatly reduce these subsidies following a declaration of independence.
The United States, as a price for acquiring Greenland, would have to expect that it would need to pick up the slack and continue these subsides indefinitely into the future.
So how should the United States go about acquiring Greenland since both the Danish government and the Greenlanders themselves have shown no interest in past overtures?
Perhaps the way to win the hearts of the Greenlanders is to eschew the traditional approach of offering cash to Denmark because it does nothing for the Greenlanders themselves.
What if the United States were to go directly to the Greenlanders themselves and offer to pay each of the Greenlanders a specific sum of money to vote in favor of a national referendum authorizing Greenland to join the United States?
Although the Danish government would likely complain that this action constituted interference in its internal affairs, this approach would confer the monetary benefits of the acquisition on the Greenlanders themselves instead of the Copenhagen government’s general welfare fund.
But how much should each Greenlander receive?
In a country in which the average salary is $36,000 per year, the sum would have to be life-changing because the United States would be asking the Greenlanders to jump ship from Denmark.
So what if the United States offered to pay every Greenlander 10 times the average annual Greenlandic salary of $36,000 or $360,000 in a lump sum payment following the passage of the referendum?
These funds could be used for anything from purchasing a new harpoon to covering expenses at the University of Greenland to going on a shopping spree in Nuuk’s (the capital city) finest retail establishments to putting money away for a rainy day.
The total amount owed to the Greenlanders would be equal to about $20 billion — which is a substantial sum of money but a drop in the bucket (about 0.3%) when you consider that the United States government spent $6.75 trillion in 2024.
Indeed, if we wanted to offer every Greenlander the princely sum of $1 million to embrace the Stars and Stripes, Washington would have to cough up $56 billion.
But it would be a one-time payment (amounting to only about one-fifth of the annual budget of the vaunted Department of Education) and the United States would finally have legal control over an 840,000 square mile buffer guarding the northeastern flank of North America.
Denmark, for its part, will try to counter any further efforts by the United States to purchase Greenland. Danish Prime Minister Metter Frederiksen has recently announced that the Danish government will be spending "more money" to improve Greenland’s infrastructure.
Moreover, Greenland’s Prime Minister Jens-Frederik Nielsen has flatly ruled out any closer association with the United States.
However, the "pay to play" proposal advocated above has the advantage of bypassing government officials and going directly to the people of Greenland themselves.
Moreover, it avoids trying to placate career politicians in both Copenhagen and Nuuk who are going to oppose any measure that threatens their livelihoods.
Jefferson Hane Weaver is a transactional lawyer residing in Florida. He received his undergraduate degree in Economics and Political Science from the University of North Carolina and his J.D. and Ph.D. in International Relations from Columbia University. Dr. Weaver is the author of numerous books on varied, compelling subjects. Read more of his reports — Here.