WASHINGTON — Secretary of State Marco Rubio is jumpstarting President Trump’s long-sought bid to acquire Greenland after the daring capture of Venezuelan dictator Nicolás Maduro has given the administration just the right “machismo” to purchase the strategically located island.
Rubio told reporters Wednesday that he was scheduled to meet with officials from Denmark, which colonized Greenland in the 1700s and still exerts control over its affairs, as soon as next week — but declined to confirm reports that Trump hopes to buy the island.
The White House and Cabinet officials have supported the move to obtain the world’s largest island — and sources familiar with the administration’s discussions expressed that Trump is “extremely serious” about purchasing it being the best way.
“The United States is eager to build lasting commercial relationships that benefit Americans and the people of Greenland,” a State Department spokesperson said. “Our common adversaries have been increasingly active in the Arctic. That is a concern that the United States, the Kingdom of Denmark, and NATO Allies share.”
Details of the US-Denmark summit were not immediately forthcoming, but the price tag for Greenland could come out to at least $3.3 billion, per the World Bank, less than 1% of the federal government’s total projected $7 trillion in spending this fiscal year.
However, that price tag doesn’t include the market price of its untapped mineral reserves.
A Cold War-era pact granted that positioning to American troops, with the military’s Pituffik Space Base already located far to the northwestern side of Greenland, leading some critics to question the prudence of nabbing the Danish-controlled island — whether through diplomacy or military force.
The Greenland agreement, signed in April 1951, allows the US to “construct, install, maintain, and operate” more military bases on the island as well as “house personnel” and “control landings, takeoffs, anchorages, moorings, movements, and operation of ships, aircraft, and waterborne craft,” The New York Times first reported.
“The president keeps his options open, but diplomacy is always the first,” White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt said in a press briefing.
Leavitt stressed that that “more control over the Arctic region” would also ensure “China and Russia and our adversaries cannot continue their aggression in this very important and strategic region.”
Praise for the effort hasn’t been limited to members of the president’s own party.
Sen. John Fetterman (D-Pa.) told The Post he would be “the first person” to vote for a Trump-backed effort to obtain the territory, while adding that any move to take it by military force would be as foolish as “invading Harrisburg,” the capital city of his home state.
“Why can’t we all acknowledge that Greenland has significant strategic value and real minerals as well?” the Pennsylvania senator also chided his fellow Democrats.
Rep. Mike Flood (R-Neb.) also huddled with the ambassador of Denmark and Greenland reps in Washington on Wednesday, signaling they are willing to partner with the US.
“After meeting with their representatives, I am confident that Secretary of State Marco Rubio can navigate a diplomatic win-win solution with one of our finest allies,” Flood said on X.
Besides its strategic location in the North Atlantic, the world’s largest island also has vast reservoirs of untapped mineral wealth.
Those include rare earth elements, zinc, ore, gold, titanium, uranium and potentially oil — valued at trillions of dollars’ worth of additional assets, according to Foundation for Defense of Democracies adjunct senior fellow Peter Doran.
Adding in the cost of the valuable material, the American Action Forum estimated last year that Greenland would be worth $200 billion. And if Iceland is used as a proxy to figure the value of Greenland’s strategic importance, the suggested price is just shy of $2.8 trillion.
Former President Harry S. Truman first tried to purchase the Danish territory with an offer of $100 million worth of gold in 1946 — but was rebuffed.
Danish Prime Minister Mette Frederiksen and Greenland’s prime minister, Jens-Frederik Nielsen, have maintained that the territory is “not for sale” and that defense agreements already give US forces “wide access.”
The Danish PM’s office put out a letter on Jan. 6 warning Trump that both her nation and Greenland remain “part of NATO,” implying that any military action could potentially provoke Europeans to respond accordingly.
The president put out a post on his Truth Social the following day declaring, “We will always be there for NATO, even if they won’t be there for us.”
Doran, an expert in Russia, Ukraine and transatlantic relations, said the acquisition is both about Greenland’s “strategic importance” and Trump’s legacy, noting how former President Woodrow Wilson had cut a deal with the Danes to get the Virgin Islands “for $25 million in gold coins.”
“President Trump is raising the stakes by making sure this is American territory — and making sure any future president maintains it,” Doran added, while downplaying talk of any military intervention and promoting either a purchase or national referendum from the people of Greenland.
Theoretically, Greenlanders — who have chafed at what one former local government employee dubbed “Danish colonialism” — could call for an independence referendum, though it’s unclear whether that would be subject to Copenhagen’s final approval.
Denmark also provides the island’s more than 56,000 inhabitants with generous subsidies that comprise roughly half the territory’s budget.
“Increasingly, the short route to Asia will be through the Arctic Circle,” Doran also said, highlighting how any saber-rattling has been “deeply unhelpful” and “panicked our European allies unnecessarily.”
Plus, the president has “the momentum of machismo” after bagging Maduro in a stunning military operation and hauling him to the US to face justice for alleged narco-terrorism, Doran continued. “He is feeling very confident and rightfully so.”
“What they did in Venezuela is going to change Latin America,” Sen. Rick Scott (R-Fla.) cheered earlier Wednesday on Fox Business. “Then we’re going to fix Cuba. Nicaragua will get fixed. Next year, we’ll get a new president in Colombia. Democracy is coming back to this hemisphere.”
The case of Panama Canal also provides a similar example of successful diplomacy without military action needed.
The president had been deeply concerned about China’s influence over the canal — and has expressed similar worries about Beijing’s designs for Greenland.
The Central American nation allowed the US to deploy a string of bases alongside the canal. Additionally Panama allowed a consortium of American companies to purchase two ports being run by Hong Kong entities.
Trump declared victory and ceased his threats to “take back” the canal.
