Greenland not for sale, Trump told

Greenland dismissed the notion that it might be up for sale after reports that US President Donald Trump had privately discussed with his advisers the idea of buying the world’s biggest island. “We are open for business, but we’re not for sale,” Greenland’s foreign minister Ane Lone Bagger said. 

A media report said that US President Donald Trump was asking advisers whether it’s possible for the United States to buy the Arctic island.

Trump is due to visit Copenhagen in September and the Arctic will be on the agenda during meetings with the prime ministers of Denmark and Greenland, an autonomous Danish territory. 

World’s largest island

Greenland is a self-governing region of Denmark, located between the North Atlantic and Arctic oceans and is home to only about 57,000 people, most of whom belong to the indigenous Inuit community. It handles its own domestic affairs while Copenhagen looks after defence and foreign policy.

Greenland doesn’t quite live up to its lush name. Around 85 per cent of the island is covered by 3km-thick ice sheet that contains 10 per cent of the world’s fresh water.

The world’s largest island has suffered from climate change, scientists say, becoming a giant melting icicle that threatens to submerge the world’s coastal areas one day. July saw unprecedented melting of the Greenland ice sheet, with 12 billion tonnes of ice flowing into the sea.

Strategically important area

Greenland is gaining attention from global super powers including China, Russia and the United States due to its strategic location and its mineral resources.

Greenland is considered important to American national security interests. A defence treaty between Denmark and the United States dating back to 1951 gives the US military rights over the Thule Air Base in northern Greenland. The Thule Air Base, 1,200 km north of the Arctic Circle, is used by the US Air Force Space Command and the North American Aerospace Defence Command. It is the US Armed Forces’ northernmost installation. It includes a radar station that is part of a US ballistic missile early-warning system. 

Has the US tried to buy Greenland before?

The idea of purchasing Greenland was first mooted during the 1860s under the presidency of Andrew Johnson. In 1867, a report by the US State Department suggested that Greenland’s strategic location, along with its abundance of resources, made it an ideal acquisition. 

But no official move was made until 1946, when Harry Truman offered Denmark $100m for the territory. He had earlier toyed with the idea of swapping land in Alaska for strategic parts of Greenland, says a report.

Historically, countries have acquired territory through financial deals. Under the 1803 Louisiana Purchase, the US bought land in North America from France for $15 million. In 1867, the US bought Alaska from Russia for $7.2 million. In 1917, the US bought the islands then known as the Danish West Indies from Denmark for $25 million and renamed them the Virgin Islands.