President Donald Trump’s latest attempt to make Greenland part of the United States has become quite bold. He’s reportedly suggesting a plan where each person living in Greenland would get $10,000 a year from the US government if the country agrees to become American property. This idea has been talked about as the “cash-flush charm offensive” since he started his second term in office.
According to The New York Times, this offer is intended to take the place of the $600 million that Denmark currently gives to Greenland every year. This proposal is part of a larger strategy of the President’s to control Greenland, which has a lot of rare materials that are hard to find and land in the Arctic that’s very important for military purposes.
BREAKING:
🇺🇲🇩🇰 Trump is considering giving $10,000 per year to every person in Greenland in order to ‘to convince them to join the US’ – NYT reports pic.twitter.com/FGtv3MznJw
— Megatron (@Megatron_ron) April 11, 2025
National Security Council spokesman Brian Hughes talked to the Times and said, “President Trump believes Greenland is a strategically important location and is confident Greenlanders would be better served protected by the United States from modern threats in the Arctic region.” He had talked about this idea before, but it seems that recent problems between countries and more military activity in the Arctic have made him want to try harder to make it happen.
At the core of the President’s interest in Greenland are three main factors: rare earth metals, the opening up of shipping routes in the Arctic due to melting ice, and military considerations. This large island, which is part of Denmark but runs its affairs, holds substantial reserves of uranium and rare earth elements found anywhere on our planet. As global temperatures rise and Greenland’s ice caps shrink, the place is becoming a hotspot.
In a speech to Congress on March 4, Donald Trump promised, “We will keep you safe, we will make you rich, and together, we will take Greenland to heights like you have never thought possible before.”
But it’s not all just about getting richer. There’s a military angle, too, with Trump pointing out that having Greenland would be big for the US’s security and the security of other countries.
Vice President J.D. Vance made a trip to Greenland towards the end of March 2025 and had some strong words to say: he told the people there that the United States is the one country that can keep Greenland safe from any trouble that Russia or China might cause. He talked about this while standing at Pituffik Space Base, saying, “A lot of people are making a play… Denmark’s security umbrella has meant they’ve passed it all off to brave Americans and hoped we would pick up the tab.”
Vance didn’t have a lot of good things to say about Copenhagen either, suggesting that they hadn’t done enough to help Greenland. He pointed out, “You have under-invested in the people of Greenland, and you have under-invested in the security architecture of this incredible, beautiful land mass.” Even though he promised that the US would “respect [Greenland’s] sovereignty, and not try to take control, some aren’t so sure.
Danish Prime Minister Mette Frederiksen gave a powerful speech on a naval ship a few days ago, strongly disagreeing with President’s desire to buy Greenland. She questioned, “When you demand to take over a part of the Kingdom of Denmark’s territory when we are met by pressure and threats from our closest ally, what are we to believe in about the country we have admired?” She talked about the importance of working together with other countries in NATO and cautioned that if they started fighting among themselves, they’d only be helping their enemies.
Holy Cow!
Denmark’s Prime Minister Mette Frederiksen just sent a very stern, serious and condemning message to Donald Trump about his attempts to annex Greenland!
“When you ask our businesses to invest into the US. They do. When you ask us to spend more on defense. We do. And… pic.twitter.com/YkIVqYh8oy
— Ed Krassenstein (@EdKrassen) April 3, 2025
Meanwhile, people in Greenland have different opinions about this situation. Some might like the idea of getting $10,000 every year, but others think it’s like the US trying to boss them around like they used to do in colonial times. Those who want Greenland to be its own country now have to decide if they should keep getting money from Denmark, which has been helping them, or risk it all for full independence.
With the US President pushing hard for this deal, everyone in the global community is starting to think about how far they can go with being nice to each other and respecting borders and how much cold, hard cash can change the game.
