Negotiating Greenland from Denmark is Merely Deja Vu. The U.S. Took the Virgin Islands the Same Way.

Townhall 

The left and its comrades in the MSM are exhibiting faux outrage that President Donald Trump wants to strong-arm Denmark into giving Greenland to the U.S. But they never mention that the U.S. took the Virgin Islands from Denmark the same way.

The U.S. purchased the Virgin Islands (St. Thomas, St. John and St. Croix) from Denmark in 1917 for $25 million. The U.S. pressured Denmark with threats of military occupation, fearful the Germans would take control of the islands during World War I. The islands held strategic value for protecting Caribbean approaches, shipping lanes and accessing the newly opened Panama Canal.

Similarly, Greenland's location at the intersection of North America, Europe and the Arctic makes it pivotal for U.S. security interests. It is a key naval chokepoint for monitoring and restricting Russian submarine and surface movements from the Arctic into the Atlantic. It would also diminish Chinese investments and influence, such as attempting airports, mining stakes and naval activity.

Pituffik Space Base in Greenland hosts critical U.S. ballistic missile early-warning radars, space surveillance and supports missile defense. Full U.S. ownership would ease further bases, troop increases and infrastructure without allied negotiations.

Denmark lacks the capacity to defend Greenland adequately. U.S. ownership would secure the region, prevent adversary footholds and extend a Monroe Doctrine-like dominance in the "near-abroad" Arctic.

Critics contend that the U.S. just wants to acquire the country for selfish reasons, such as its rich natural resources. But they omit the rest of the story. Greenland is home to the largest deposits of rare earth elements outside of China, which are essential for electronics, batteries and defense tech, EVs and wind turbines. Access to these would reduce U.S. reliance on China-dominated supply chains.

And yes, it would give the U.S. other economic advantages. The Northwest Passage near Greenland would allow for trade routes between Asia and Europe and North America, potentially twice as fast on average as going through the Suez Canal in Panama.

While the MSM is quick to cite biased polls showing Greenlanders don’t want to be acquired by the U.S., they leave out data from those polls showing that Greenlanders no longer want to be under Denmark’s control. A poll from Verian found that 56 percent want independence.

Nor does the MSM cite a poll from Patriot Polling, which found that 57.3 percent of Greenlanders want the U.S. to acquire their country. The polling company, which was founded by a student who currently attends an Ivy League school, said they were labeled the most accurate pollster in the 2024 Presidential Election after correctly projecting the outcome in all states. Nate Silver, who previously ran the pollster ranking site FiveThirtyEight (and is not conservative), ranked Patriot Polling second out of 41 pollsters for accuracy in 2024. ActiVote ranked Patriot Polling sixth out of 136 pollsters for accuracy in 2024. 

Europeans are piling on, opposing the acquisition, but the MSM fails to report that Europeans have long harbored resentment against the U.S., so their reaction is predictable. They resent the U.S. for its status as the most powerful country in the world, with a military defense massive enough to protect itself, unlike them, so they resent anything perceived as giving the U.S. more power. What they naively miss is that if the U.S. doesn’t take over Greenland, there is a significant chance Russia or China will, jeopardizing the security of nearby European countries. But they are selfishly and shortsightedly looking at economic interests — they want to continue harvesting Greenland’s rare minerals for green energy programs.

So, where does the attempt to acquire Greenland stand now? Trump initially escalated the pressure in mid-January by threatening 10 percent tariffs that would rise to 25 percent on exports from Denmark and several European countries, including Norway, Sweden, France, Germany, the UK, the Netherlands and Finland, unless they supported the acquisition. Trump also hinted at military options last month, with White House statements noting that "utilizing the U.S. military is always an option."

On January 21, at the World Economic Forum in Davos, Trump met with NATO Secretary-General Mark Rutte and announced a "framework of a future deal" on Greenland and the broader Arctic region. He immediately withdrew the tariff threat scheduled for February 1, calling the talks "very productive."

Due to the faux outrage, Trump may be backing down on fully acquiring Greenland. He might run into Congressional opposition to the purchase. So, if not an outright purchase, his future deal is rumored to include a U.S. "Golden Dome" missile defense system for Greenland. It is a multi-layered, next-generation homeland missile defense initiative announced by Trump in early 2025. It would protect the U.S. from a wide range of aerial threats, including ballistic missiles, hypersonic missiles, cruise missiles and potentially other advanced projectiles such as drones or space-launched threats from adversaries like Russia, China, North Korea or Iran, using radar and early warning expansions at existing sites like Pituffik Space Base.

The program would provide enhanced U.S. military access, such as sovereign U.S. bases in limited pockets of Greenland, modeled on UK bases in Cyprus. It may also include measures to block Russian and Chinese influence, such as no drilling or mining deals with adversaries and boosting NATO Arctic security.

Russia and China have the second-most powerful military forces after the U.S., while European countries have insignificant protection of their own. Europeans need to see the bigger picture. As the top global military power, the U.S. has some responsibility (and not as some massive “world’s policeman,” as the left falsely spins it) to stop the spread of communism and authoritarian leaders coming after the rest of us peaceful free countries, just like we did in WW1 and WW2 — I don’t hear anyone complaining about our involvement there freeing the world, and acquiring the Virgin Islands.