Timeline: Trump's Pursuit of Greenland
A look at the political debate, threats, and tensions over the president's goal to take control of the world's largest island
President Trump and those who support acquiring Greenland often point out that President Harry Truman wanted to acquire the huge island of about 840,000 square miles — which is more than three times the size of Texas.
But Truman’s pursuit was done in secret. We didn’t find out about it until 1991, when a Danish newspaper found documents in the National Archives that were declassified 20-some years earlier. Truman’s offer on Dec. 14, 1946: $100 million in gold.
Trump’s pursuit has been the antithesis of Truman’s. It’s involved economic and military threats, and it has played out in public.
While Truman accepted no for an answer, Trump won’t let it go. His administration is now determining how much it would cost to have Greenland as a U.S. territory.
Below is a timeline of key moments in Trump’s push to acquire Greenland, which began in his first term. It also includes responses from officials in Greenland and Denmark, which has owned the island since 1721.
August 15, 2019
The Wall Street Journal breaks the story that President Trump wants to buy Greenland. The story says the idea gained momentum during a dinner the previous spring:
Mr. Trump said someone had told him at a roundtable that Denmark was having financial trouble over its assistance to Greenland, and suggested that he should consider buying the island, according to one of the people. “What do you guys think about that?” he asked the room, the person said. “Do you think it would work?”
Greenland’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs responds the following day on what was then called Twitter:
August 18, 2019
President Trump confirms his interest in acquiring Greenland, but also says “it’s not No. 1 on the burner.”
Essentially, it’s a large real-estate deal,” he says, noting costs for Denmark to support Greenland. “And strategically, for the United States, it would be nice.”
Trump notes the possibility of stopping in Denmark on the way back from an upcoming trip to Poland, but “not for this reason at all.”
August 19, 2019
President Trump’s tweet the following morning:
Meanwhile, Danish Prime Minister Mette Frederiksen says any talk of the U.S. purchasing Greenland is “an absurd discussion.”
“Greenland is not for sale. Greenland is not Danish. Greenland belongs to Greenland. I strongly hope that this is not meant seriously.”
August 20, 2019
Trump announces on Twitter that he won’t travel to Denmark because Frederiksen said she has no interest in selling Greenland.
Dec. 22, 2024
In announcing his ambassador to Denmark, Trump writes on Truth Social:
For purposes of National Security and Freedom throughout the World, the United States of America feels that the ownership and control of Greenland is an absolute necessity.
Greenland’s prime minister, Mute Egede, is not interested. He posts on Facebook the following day:
We are not for sale and we will not be for sale. We will not give up the freedom we have been fighting for for so many years. However, we will remain open to cooperation and trade with our international partners…
January 7, 2025
In a press conference at Mar-A-Lago, President-Elect Trump doesn’t rule out military force to take control of Greenland or the Panama Canal, and says he may “tariff Denmark at a very high level” if it doesn’t cooperate:
People really don’t even know if Denmark has any legal right to it, but if they do, they should give it up, because we need it for national security.
January 11, 2025
Axios reports that Danish officials have been sending messages to Trump’s transition team about the possibility of letting the U.S. increase its military presence in Greenland.
January 12, 2025
Vice President-elect JD Vance tells FOX News that Greenland is “strategically” important to America, and then criticizes the Danish government.
We also need ot make sure that Greenland is properly cared for from an American security perspective. And frankly, the current leadership — the Danish government — has not done a good enough job of securing Greenland. I think there actually is a real opportunity here for us to take leadership to protect America’s security, to ensure that those incredible natural resources are developed, and that’s what Donald Trump is good at. He’s good at making deals, and I think there’s a deal to be made in Greenland.
January 15, 2025
Trump and Frederiksen have a 45-minute “fiery” phone conversation over Greenland, The Financial Times reports.
The Financial Times spoke to five current and former European officials who say the call went badly after she told him Greenland wasn’t for sale.
One describes it as “horrendous.” Another says Trump “was very firm. It was a cold shower. Before, it was hard to take it seriously. But I do think it is serious and potentially very dangerous.”
January 16, 2025
Fredericksen tells reporters, “This is a serious situation,” and that Trump did not back away from his tariff threat.
The Americans have suggested that, unfortunately, we could find ourselves in a situation where we work less together than we do today in the sphere of economics.
January 28, 2025
While meeting with EU leaders in Brussels, Frederiksen announces she has received “a great deal of support” from her European counterparts in her position that Greenland is not for sale. She also says, “I have no reason to believe that there is a military threat to Greenland or Denmark.”
Germany Chancellor Olaf Scholz adds that “borders must not be moved by force.”
February 2, 2025
Vice President JD Vance tells FOX News that Greenland’s residents are unhappy with Denmark.
You’ve got probably 55,000 people living on Greenland who are not actually happy with Danish government. They’ve got great natural resources there. They’ve got an incredibly bountiful country that the Danes aren’t letting them develop and explore. Of course, Donald Trump would take a different approach if he was the leader of Greenland.
February 19, 2025
Talking to reporters aboard Air Force One, Trump reaffirms his commitment to annexing Greenland, citing national security concerns.
We need Greenland from the standpoint of national security and international security. We have to do something with Greenland. We have to protect Greenland. But we need it for national security, and we need it, maybe more importantly, for international security.
March 4, 2025
Trump gives a speech to a joint session of Congress in which he reaffirms his interest in acquiring Greenland. He says he supports Greenland’s right to determine its future, but adds: “One way or the other, we’re going to get it.”
And I also have a message tonight for the incredible people of Greenland. We strongly support your right to determine your own future, and, if you choose, we welcome you into the United States of America.
We need Greenland for national security and even international security, and we’re working with everybody involved to try and get it. But we need it, really, for international world security. And I think we’re going to get it. One way or the other, we’re going to get it.
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.
March 23, 2025
The White House announces that a U.S. delegation that includes Second Lady Usha Vance, National Security Advisor Michael Waltz and Energy Secretary Chris Wright will travel to Greenland later in the week. The delegation is to “visit historical sites, learn about Greenlandic heritage, and attend the Avannaata Qimussersu, Greenland's national dogsled race.”
The announcement sparks outrage from Greenland Prime Minister Múte B. Egede, who asks, “What is the national security adviser doing in Greenland? The only purpose is to demonstrate power over us.”
March 25, 2025
Danish Prime Minister Frederiksen says the visit amounts to “unacceptable pressure” on Greenland and Denmark “and this is a pressure we will resist.”
“This is clearly not a visit about what Greenland needs or what Greenland wants from visits from the outside right now,” she says.
Later in the day, Vance, announces he will join his wife in the U.S. delegation to Greenland to visit Pituffik Space Base “and check out what’s going on with the security there in Greenland.”
A lot of other countries have threatened Greenland, have threatened to use its territories and its waterways to threaten the United States, to threaten Canada, and of course, to threaten the people of Greenland, so we’re gonna check out how things are going there. And I say that, speaking for President Trump, we want to reinvigorate the security of the people of Greenland because we think it’s important to protecting the security of the entire world. Unfortunately, leaders in both America and in Denmark, I think, ignored Greenland for far too long. That’s been bad for Greenland. It’s also been bad for the security of the entire world. We think we can take things in a different direction, so I’m gonna go check it out.
In addition to announcing the delegation’s itinerary, a White House press release admonishes Denmark and past U.S. presidents for failing to counter the influence of the two countries’ adversaries in the region:
The strategic partnership between the United States and Greenland has long played a vital role in our national and economic security. During World War Two, the United States established over a dozen military bases in Greenland to defend the North Atlantic from Nazi incursion. During the Cold War, the United States committed additional resources to Greenland to defend against Soviet missile attacks. In the decades since, neglect and inaction from Danish leaders and past U.S. administrations have presented our adversaries with the opportunity to advance their own priorities in Greenland and the Arctic. President Trump is rightly changing course.
March 26, 2025
During an interview with conservative talk show host Vince Coglianese, Trump reiterates his support for a takeover of Greenland even though he’s uncertain its citizens want to become Americans. “We have to have it,” Trump says.
COGLIANESE: What’s the mission there? What are they up to, that delegation [to Greenland]?
TRUMP: To let them know that we need Greenland for international safety and security. We need it. We have to have it. And it’s a island that, from a defensive posture and even offensive posture, is something we need, especially with the world the way it is, and we’re gonna have to have it. And so, I hate to put it that way, but we’re gonna have to have it. Modern-day weapons – when you look at ships going up their shore by the hundreds – it’s a busy place, and it’s really something we have to have.
COGLIANESE: Do you think the people of Greenland are eager to become American citizens?
TRUMP: I don’t know. I don’t think they’re uneager, but I think that we have to do it, and we have to convince them, and we have to have that land because it’s not possible to properly defend a large section of this earth, not just the United States, without it. So, we have to have it, and I think we will have it.
March 28, 2025
Vance and a U.S. delegation arrives in Greenland on the same day that Jens-Frederik Nielsen is sworn in as prime minister of the island.
“At a time when we as a people are under pressure, we must stand together,” Nielsen says.
At Pituffik Space Base — 930 miles north of Greenland’s capital, Nuuk — Vance says Greenland is “extremely vulnerable.”
This territory, Greenland, really matters for the security of the United States. It's extremely vulnerable right now. And if the people of Greenland were willing to partner with the United States, and I think that they ultimately will partner with the United States, we could make them much more secure. We could do a lot more protection, and I think they'd fare a lot better economically as well.
This has to happen, and the reason it has to happen, I hate to say it, is because our friends in Denmark have not done their job in keeping this area safe. They just haven't done it. It's very simple for all of our friends in the American media who attack the administration for pointing out the obvious, what is the alternative to give up the North Atlantic, to give up the Arctic to China, to Russia, and to other regimes that don't have the best interest of the American people at heart? We have no other option. We need to take a significant position in Greenland to keep the people here safe, but to keep our own country safe too.
He also says he believes Greenland has a right to self-determination, but “we hope that they choose to partner with the United States because we are the only nation on earth that will respect their sovereignty and respect their security.”
The delegation’s trip to Greenland was isolated to the base. Other parts of the visit — including a trip to Nuuk, Greenland’s capital — were canceled because of protests.
“It’s a tactical retreat,” Lars Trier Mogensen, a political analyst in Copenhagen, told the New York Times. “On the one hand, they de-escalated by not carrying out the full cultural mission and skipping the P.R. stunt. On the other hand, it’s a symbolic escalation that the highest-ranking official is visiting Greenland.”
Meanwhile, Trump posts a dramatic video on X, “America Stands With Greenland.” It says that 1,000 American soldiers and four chaplains went to Greenland In 1943 “not to conquer but to protect” the island from Nazis.
“Their ship was torpedoed by a Nazi U-boat and the frigid waters of the North Atlantic became a grave. Those four chaplains gave up their life vests, giving their lives so that others might live,” the narrator says as video shows pictures of the chaplains.
The video warns that Greenland faces new threats “from Russian aggression and Chinese expansion.”
The narration ends with:
This is not just history; it is destiny. Now is the time to stand together again, for peace, for security, for the future. America stands with Greenland.
That evening, Danish Minister of Foreign Affairs Lars Løkke Rasmussen posts his own video to X. He says that Denmark is “open to criticism” but does not “appreciate the tone in which it is being delivered.”
Rasmussen says that Denmark is willing to consider a more prominent U.S. military presence in Greenland and notes that Denmark recently made “a billion-dollar investment in Arctic security” that includes “more drones, more ships, [and] more personnel.” He concludes with a reminder that NATO’s security guarantee also applies to Greenland.
March 29, 2025
Frederiksen, the Danish prime minister, announces on X that she will be traveling to Greenland the following week. Her statement also includes the following: “I have the deepest respect for how the Greenlandic people and Greenlandic politicians are handling the great pressure on Greenland.”
During a phone interview with NBC News, Trump says he thinks Greenland can be acquired without military force, but that “I never take military force off the table.”
He also says, “We’ll get Greenland. Yeah, 100%,” NBC reports.
March 30, 2025
In a Facebook post, Greenland Prime Minister Nielsen says Trump is not going to get his way.
President Trump says the United States is “getting Greenland”. Let me make this clear: The U.S. is not getting that. We don't belong to anyone else. We decide our own future. We must not act out of fear. We must respond with peace, dignity and unity.
April 1, 2025
The Washington Post reports that the Trump administration is preparing an estimate of how much it would cost the U.S. to have Greenland as a territory. The story relies on three unnamed sources.
The story says the U.S. is considering making a direct offer to Greenland, which since 1979 has had its own parliament.
Still, it costs Denmark about $600 million a year to subsidize services to Greenland and its 58,000 residents, the Post story says. A source told the Post that a potential U.S. offer is “a lot higher than that.” The source added:
“The point is, ‘We’ll pay you more than Denmark does.’ ”
I dunno, seems like we should deal with the stuff that's already our land before we try to get more of it. How's LA doing these days? NC?
Buying Greenland from the Danes; fine if everyone is onboard.
I don't like the "bully" talk of taking over the island by force-we gain nothing by acting as aggressors.