By Buck Sexton
ORIGINALLY IT SOUNDED LIKE A JOKE.
Recently, the media reported that President Donald Trump had been speaking to senior White House advisers about buying Greenland, a frigid Danish protectorate and the largest island in the world. This immediately spawned all manner of humorous memes and other commentary online. The leader of the free world – who also happens to be a real estate magnate – was thinking about a land deal involving a country best known for its glaciers and sparse population. Turns out, Trump wasn’t kidding. To the shock of many, the president confirmed his interest in acquiring the massive frozen island. He wanted to approach the subject with the Danish government, who provide national security and diplomatic protection to the otherwise autonomous island. Once this news broke, Danish Prime Minister Mette Frederiksen tersely told a newspaper, “Greenland is not for sale.” In response, Trump canceled a scheduled visit with Denmark’s Queen Margrethe II. In case anyone was wondering if this was really the reason, here’s what the President tweeted:
Greenland hasn’t seen this much interest since a bunch of 10th century Vikings were blown off course and became the first westerners to set foot on the island. Of course, much of the resulting media coverage had been to trash the president for what we are told is an unthinkable proposition. But why, exactly, should we think that purchasing Greenland is such an absurd idea? After all, America has a long – and in retrospect, wildly successful – history of paying cash for vast tracts of land, including the Louisiana Purchase from France in 1803 to the great deal we got from Russia for the Alaska Purchase in 1867. From an international law perspective, Denmark could choose to sell Greenland, and the U.S. could take its people as permanent residents under the condition that Greenlanders held some form of referendum and accepted the change. There’s no other legal or ethical roadblock to making Greenland a U.S. protectorate, something akin to Guam or Samoa (just a lot bigger and colder). Greenland’s entire population is around 56,000 – less than say, Schenectady, New York. Its national economic output is under $3 billion a year, and its single biggest industry is fishing. Outside of its capital, Nuuk, there is very little infrastructure of any
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