As Trump is a business negotiator, outlandish positions to us are a sound basis for negotiation to him. And there is no way Greenland would become a state with two senators and a representative for their liberal society with only 55, 000 people, and we’ve never made Puerto Rico a state for this very reason. Currently, Wyoming is the smallest state with 586,485 people (2024), having only one representative and two senators. And Trump is an OCGFC member, so rest assured he’ll get a deal to expand bases and get access to those natural resources to counter China and Russia in the Arctic.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
https:\/\/thefederalist.com\/2025\/02\/11\/neither-state-nor-territory-trump-has-a-third-option-on-greenland\/<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n By: Tristan Justice<\/p>\n\n\n\n If the Danes don\u2019t want to sell Greenland and the locals don\u2019t want to form the 51st state, President Donald Trump is left with a third option.<\/p>\n\n\n\n President Donald Trump may or may not be able to bring Greenland under American control, but he does have options in the wake of geopolitical currents transforming Arctic statecraft.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Greenland\u2019s prime minister announced<\/a> on Tuesday that the semi-autonomous Danish territory will hold a snap election on March 11 as Trump considers avenues to annex the island. In light of the White House\u2019s renewed acquisition interest, the top issue to be considered is likely Greenland\u2019s status as an independent state.<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cWe are in the midst of a serious time. A time that we have never experienced in our country,\u201d Prime Minister Mute Egede wrote in a social media post reported by Reuters. \u201cThis is not the time for internal division.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n Trump reignited a more than 150-year-old<\/a> interest in the island just weeks before his second inauguration. In December, the president-elect began to preview a 21st-century form of the Monroe Doctrine with a newfound focus on American influence throughout the Western Hemisphere.<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cFor 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,\u201d Trump wrote<\/a> in his announcement of his ambassador to Denmark.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Greenland not only remains at the nexus of Arctic transportation but also hosts a trove<\/a> of critical minerals that are key to competing in the next phase of the industrial revolution. The president, however, faces significant obstacles to his plans, including Copenhagen\u2019s opposition to his taking control of an island that is seemingly more interested in total independence than rule by a foreign power.<\/p>\n\n\n\n The island\u2019s population of roughly 55,000 last voted on related measures in 2008, when 75 percent approved<\/a> a self-government referendum claiming a higher level of autonomy just shy of complete independence. Greenlanders voted to declare themselves a distinct people and recognized Greenlandic as the official language instead of Danish. The local population also took control<\/a> of their own law enforcement, legal system, and coast guard in addition to a greater share of the island\u2019s oil revenues.<\/p>\n\n\n\n In February of last year, Greenland\u2019s government formally declared<\/a> full independence was the ultimate goal in the nation\u2019s Foreign, Security and Defense Policy 2024-2033<\/a>. Alexander Gray, a senior fellow at the American Foreign Policy Council and former chief of staff of the National Security Council under Trump, outlined<\/a> in The Wall Street Journal last November why an independent Greenland represents a \u201cgrave concern\u201d for U.S. security given the island\u2019s inability to protect the region by itself.<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cRussia and China are threatening the status quo in the Arctic,\u201d Gray wrote.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Moscow has claimed significant chunks of the Arctic Sea, including inside Greenland\u2019s Exclusive Economic Zone. Russian survey ships have encroached on Greenland\u2019s waters, and Russia is expanding its Arctic bases and formidable icebreaker fleet. China has declared itself a \u201cnear-Arctic state,\u201d established a shipping network called the \u201cPolar Silk Road\u201d to bind Arctic communities closer to Beijing\u2019s economic and political agenda, and built its own fleet of icebreakers.<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n\n\n\n The Chinese, meanwhile, have a well-established history of imposing Beijing\u2019s influence<\/a> on vulnerable regions of critical interest. In an interview with The Federalist, Gray characterized Trump\u2019s interest in acquiring Greenland as \u201ca real security threat we have to respond to.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cGreenland has always been a potential threat to North America if a foreign adversary occupies it,\u201d Gray said, with the Chinese and the Russians both eager to implement a de facto takeover of one of the world\u2019s least<\/a> densely populated islands. Gray thinks Greenland\u2019s separation from Denmark, however, is inevitable. It is not just a question of \u201cwhen,\u201d but of \u201cwhat\u2019s waiting for the Greenlanders on the other end.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cWho do you want waiting for the Greenlanders,\u201d he said, \u201cWashington, Moscow, or Beijing?\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n Gray recommended in The Wall Street Journal weeks after the November election that Trump \u201cbuy\u201d the island, but the Danes have vehemently rejected the idea that Greenland is for sale. In January, the Financial Times reported<\/a> on a \u201cfiery\u201d phone call between Trump and Denmark Prime Minister Mette Frederiksen. The nearly hour-long phone call came after Greenland\u2019s leader signaled<\/a> a willingness to negotiate with the Republican White House.<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cFive current and former senior European officials briefed on the call said the conversation had gone very badly,\u201d the Times said. \u201cThey added that Trump had been aggressive and confrontational following the Danish prime minister\u2019s comments that the island was not for sale, despite her offer of more co-operation on military bases and mineral exploitation.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n The Danish government announced<\/a> a more than $2 billion increase in Arctic defense spending roughly two weeks later. Gray, however, stressed additional security commitments from Denmark were not enough to guarantee America\u2019s long-term security.<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cThis is a more fundamental interest,\u201d he said, leaving the president with another option beyond territorial acquisition and statehood. The former brings the risk of additional debt while the latter threatens to open a Pandora\u2019s box when it comes to the status of other districts and territories that could theoretically become states, such as Guam, Washington, D.C., and American Samoa. A poll<\/a> of Greenlanders also found in January that just 6 percent supported the island becoming American, though researchers surveyed less than 500 citizens, and polls are not elections. But if the Danes don\u2019t want to sell Greenland and the locals don\u2019t want to form the 51st state, President Trump can pursue an agreement called a Compact of Free Association (COFA).<\/p>\n\n\n\n Managed by the Department of the Interior, a COFA is a mutual agreement with select countries that are guaranteed U.S. support and protection in exchange for exclusive regional access. Under these compacts, co-opted states receive limited economic assistance and allow the American military to maintain an exclusive security presence without the host territory\u2019s forfeiture of national sovereignty. A COFA signed with Greenland would give the U.S. rights to manage regional security while the island maintains relative autonomy from both the United States and Denmark.<\/p>\n\n\n\n\n