Trump administration mulls payments to sway Greenlanders to join US | Reuters

The Trump administration is actively exploring direct cash payments to Greenland’s 57,000 residents, ranging from $10,000 to $100,000 per person, totaling nearly $6 billion, to induce them to secede from Denmark and potentially join the United States, according to four sources familiar with internal White House deliberations. White House officials, including national security aides, have intensified these discussions following Trump’s recent capture of Venezuelan leader Nicolas Maduro, with staff seeking to carry momentum from that operation toward Trump’s stated geopolitical objectives. Trump has publicly insisted the U.S. needs Greenland for national security and mineral resources critical to military applications.

Greenland’s Prime Minister Jens-Frederik Nielsen explicitly rejected the scheme in a Facebook post, stating “Enough is enough … No more fantasies about annexation,” after Trump again told reporters the acquisition was necessary. A joint statement from France, Germany, Italy, Poland, Spain, Britain, and Denmark asserted that only Greenland and Denmark can decide matters concerning their relationship, directly rebuking Trump’s territorial ambitions. The statements reflect the alliance’s disapproval despite NATO’s mutual defense obligations binding the U.S. and Denmark.

The White House is considering multiple mechanisms to acquire the island, including military intervention, though officials claim to prefer purchase or diplomatic acquisition. One option under discussion is a Compact of Free Association (COFA), a governance model previously extended only to Micronesia, the Marshall Islands, and Palau, which would require Greenland’s independence from Denmark and grant the U.S. military operational freedom in exchange for essential services and duty-free trade. Payments could theoretically be deployed to manipulate Greenlanders into voting for independence or accepting a COFA agreement post-separation.

While surveys indicate overwhelming Greenlandic support for independence, most residents oppose U.S. affiliation, and economic concerns about severing ties with Denmark have prevented legislative calls for an independence referendum. White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt acknowledged that Trump and national security officials were “looking at what a potential purchase would look like,” and Secretary of State Marco Rubio announced plans to meet Denmark’s foreign minister in Washington. The proposal exposes Trump’s willingness to treat sovereign populations and their self-determina(Source: https://www.reuters.com/world/europe/trump-administration-mulls-payments-sway-greenlanders-join-us-2026-01-08/)tion as commodities available for purchase.