What Greenlanders really think about Trump’s desire to acquire their island
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Trump’s talk of acquiring the island has raised the profile of Greenland, but it has also prompted some anxieties. Greenlanders are skeptical of President-elect Donald Trump’s expected attempt to acquire the world’s largest island - but some are open to closer ties with the U.S.
![[Don Jr’s trip to Greenland has been marred in controversy, with local lawmakers claiming he offered people free food and drinks if they wore MAGA hats.]](https://static.independent.co.uk/2025/01/07/15/SEI235273833.jpg)
“I want Greenland to stay like it is,” he added. “I don’t like the way he talks about Greenland,” resident Ida Abelsen told the paper after mass at Nuuk Cathedral. Greenland, an autonomous territory of Denmark, has free healthcare, free education, and subsidized low-income housing. Half of the state’s budget comes from Denmark, about $500 million each year.
But that’s what the U.S. handed the Philippines in military funds alone last year, meaning that it could possibly outbid Denmark for influence in the Arctic. China, Russia, and the U.S. are all trying to gain the upper hand as they seek to gain influence over new commercial shipping and military sea routes as the area warms up.
The U.S. already has a military base on Greenland, Pituffik Space Base, which is tasked with running a worldwide network of warning sensors to detect incoming missiles. The island also has the potential to provide rare-earth minerals required for electric car batteries.
Conservative activist Charlie Kirk went to Greenland alongside Donald Trump Jr. last week. He said on his podcast that Trump’s pitch to acquire Greenland “makes America dream again, that we’re not just this sad, low-testosterone, beta male slouching in our chair, allowing the world to run over us.”.
