In January 2025, Donald Trump in the first month of taking presidential office again reiterated an earlier interest in acquiring Greenland. Publicly rebuffed in 2019, during his first administration, the President has returned to the topic with gusto. The last 12 months have been breath-taking in terms of how the territorial integrity of Denmark, a NATO ally, has been called into question.
When Trump volunteered an interest in acquiring the world’s largest island, academic commentary was punctuated by a contextual discussion which noted previous presidential interest. In 1946, President Truman offered to purchase Greenland from Denmark and when that was declined politely, it led to the 1951 Defence Agreement between Washington and Copenhagen.