The case for American ownership of Greenland is weak: Heather Exner-Pirot and Christopher Coates in the National Post – MLI
January 12, 2026
Trump’s provocation is grounded in the outdated thinking that people — particularly Indigenous people — have no agency and can be bought and sold by bigger powers.
It may have started out as a joke: U.S. President Donald Trump, the former real estate magnate, tried to make an offer to buy Greenland back in 2019. The joke got fewer laughs in the early days of his second term, with the threat of annexation. Trump said in his state of the union address last March that, “We’re gonna get it — one way or the other,” and refused to rule out military force in several interviews.
Following the capture of Venezuelan leader Nicolás Maduro, the “Donroe Doctrine” for Western hemispheric dominance and control over other countries’ natural resources must be taken seriously. U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio told legislators this week that the administration will begin negotiating to buy Greenland, while the White House reaffirmed that the “range of options” being explored includes the military.
