President Donald Trump’s plans to acquire Greenland could reportedly cost $700 billion, despite it being deeply unpopular with Americans.
Trump has vowed that he would take over the Danish territory “one way or the other,” a statement officials from Denmark and Greenland have vehemently rejected.
The $700 billion price tag is an estimate crunched by scholars and former U.S. officials for planning purposes, and is more than half the Defense Department’s annual budget, according to NBC News.
Secretary of State Marco Rubio has been tasked with developing a proposal to purchase Greenland that will be put to the president in the coming weeks, a senior White House official told the outlet. Rubio and Vice President JD Vance are due to meet with officials from Denmark and Greenland in Washington, D.C. Wednesday.
The Trump administration continues to push forward on its plan to add Greenland to the U.S. despite outrage from European leaders. Now, a new poll also shows that Trump’s plan is unpopular with Americans - with nearly 75 percent saying using military force to take the island was a bad idea.
In response to the poll, Anna Kelly, deputy White House press secretary, said that Trump is “always generating creative ideas to bolster national security” and echoed Trump’s claim that Greenland faces threats from Russia and China.
“Many of this President’s predecessors recognized the strategic logic of acquiring Greenland, but only President Trump has had the courage to pursue this idea seriously,” Kelly said in a statement to The Independent. “As the President said, NATO becomes far more formidable and effective with Greenland in the hands of the United States, and Greenlanders would be better served if protected by the United States from modern threats in the Arctic region.”
Trump warned in a Wednesday Truth Social post that if America doesn’t acquire Greenland, “Russia or China will.”
“The United States needs Greenland for the purpose of National Security. It is vital for the Golden Dome that we are building,” Trump said. “NATO should be leading the way for us to get it. IF WE DON’T, RUSSIA OR CHINA WILL, AND THAT IS NOT GOING TO HAPPEN!”
The move is not a popular one with Americans, with just 17 percent approving of Trump’s efforts to acquire the mineral-rich island, according to polling published Wednesday by Reuters/Ipsos.
Some 47 percent of Americans disapproved, while 35 percent were unsure. And 71 percent of Americans — including nine in 10 Democrats and six in 10 Republicans — said using military force to achieve Trump’s goal was a “bad idea,” compared to 4 percent who said it would be a “good idea.”
The polling found 66 percent of Americans said they were worried the plans to take over Greenland would damage the NATO alliance and the U.S. alliance with Europe.
Officials from Greenland and Denmark have held firm that the territory is not available to buy.
“We are not for sale and that we will not be annexed,” Jess Berthelsen, chair of Greenland’s national trade union confederation SIK, told The Guardian.
Berthelsen said the people of Greenland “can’t recognize” claims made by Trump that the territory “is covered with Russian and Chinese ships all over the place.”
“His claims about our waters being full of Russian and Chinese ships, we cannot see that at all,” the union leader told the outlet.
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