House GOP unveils bill for Trump to buy Greenland

Trump airplane lands in Greenland

(Image credit: Emil Stach / Ritzau Scanpix / AFP via Getty Images)

By Rafi Schwartz, The Week US, Peter Weber, The Week US

published 14 January 2025

What happened

House Republicans Monday released a bill that would allow President-elect Donald Trump to "enter into negotiations with the Kingdom of Denmark to secure the acquisition of Greenland," the semiautonomous Danish territory that Trump has suggested the U.S. purchase or, if necessary, procure through economic or military force.

Denmark and Greenland have repeatedly said the giant island in the Arctic Ocean is not for sale. But Greenland Prime Minister Múte Egede said at a press conference Monday that the geopolitical "reality is we are going to work with the U.S. — yesterday, today and tomorrow," especially on defense and natural resources. Greenland, home to "only about 56,000 people," is mostly "covered in ice," The New York Times said. But as "climate change melts the Arctic ice," the U.S., Russia, China and Europe have been "eyeing" its emerging "Arctic's shipping lanes" and "extensive mineral resources."

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Rafi Schwartz has worked as a politics writer at The Week since 2022, where he covers elections, Congress and the White House. He was previously a contributing writer with Mic focusing largely on politics, a senior writer with Splinter News, a staff writer for Fusion's news lab, and the managing editor of Heeb Magazine, a Jewish life and culture publication. Rafi's work has appeared in Rolling Stone, GOOD and The Forward, among others.