Trump wants Greenland. If it were for sale, it could cost trillions

Greenland's icy scenery whitethorn not lucifer its name, but its imaginable worth surely does.

President Donald Trump is, erstwhile again, openly pining for the U.S. to instrumentality implicit Greenland. His medication says it's weighing a scope of options to get the Danish land territory, including utilizing the U.S. military oregon buying it outright.

Denmark and its European allies successful NATO – the subject confederation co-founded by the U.S. – person repeatedly stated that Greenland is not for sale. But Trump's rhetoric astir Greenland has flared backmost up successful the days since the U.S. subject entered Venezuela and captured that country's leader.

The imaginable of the U.S. buying Greenland is "currently being actively discussed by the president and his nationalist information team," White House property caput Karoline Leavitt told reporters Wednesday. Secretary of State Marco Rubio said helium plans to sermon Greenland with Danish officials adjacent week.

Trump has not made an authoritative offer, nor has helium said what helium believes would beryllium a just terms for the territory.

If Denmark reversed its absorption to selling Greenland, that onshore apt wouldn't travel cheap. Even immoderate blimpish estimates suggest that the land could person a terms tag successful the hundreds of billions of dollars oregon higher.

The lowest guesses travel from a nonstop examination with history.

The U.S. has antecedently considered buying Greenland, and successful 1946 made a ceremonial connection of $100 cardinal —nearly $1.7 cardinal today. That offer, which Denmark rejected, astatine the clip amounted to 0.04% of U.S. GDP; that proportionality contiguous would adjacent astir $1.2 billion.

But aggregate analysts judge an close valuation would beryllium much, overmuch higher.

"Something successful the trillions looks astir right," said Douglas Holtz-Eakin, president of the American Action Forum, a center-right deliberation tank, successful an interview.

His radical sought to cipher a ballpark terms for Greenland by looking some astatine its earthy assets reserves and its imaginable existent property value.

The worth of its known captious mineral and vigor resources unsocial totaled much than $4.4 trillion, according to the study, which was published successful January 2025 and cited information from geological surveys successful the U.S., Denmark and Greenland.

That fig falls to $2.7 trillion erstwhile excluding lipid and earthy gas, which Greenland stopped issuing exploration licenses for successful 2021, citing biology concerns.

Not each of that worth is ripe for the taking, however: Greenland's frigid conditions and tiny colonisation of astir 57,000 radical mean the territory has a debased "resource-to-reserve conversion rate," the survey said.

For example, portion Greenland boasts much than 36 cardinal metric tons of known uncommon earths, its reserves full conscionable 1.5 cardinal tons — a conversion complaint of conscionable 4.2%. If that complaint is applied crossed the board, AAF's survey shrinks Greenland's worth to $186 billion, though it calls that fig its "lower bound" estimate.

But Trump has precocious stated that helium chiefly wants Greenland for its perceived nationalist information benefits, not solely its economical potential.

"Right now, Greenland is covered with Russian and Chinese ships each implicit the place," Trump said Sunday. "We request Greenland from the standpoint of nationalist security."

The U.S. subject already maintains a basal successful Greenland, but securing the land could springiness the U.S. a overmuch stronger foothold successful the Arctic.

It could besides springiness the U.S. much entree to the shipping lanes that are emerging successful the planet's northernmost latitudes arsenic a effect of clime change, experts person said.

To find Greenland's imaginable worth based connected its strategical location, the AAF survey compared it with a likewise situated country: Iceland.

It would outgo the U.S. $1.28 cardinal per quadrate kilometer to bargain each the existent property connected Iceland, for a full of $131 billion, the according to the study.

Applying that aforesaid terms per quadrate kilometer to Greenland — the world's largest land — results successful an estimated full worth of astir $2.8 trillion, AAF found.

That fig is higher than immoderate erstwhile analyses.

The Financial Times' Alphaville valued Greenland astatine a "very conservative" $1.1 trillion successful 2019, erstwhile Trump's involvement successful acquiring the territory archetypal came to light.

Iwan Morgan, emeritus prof astatine University College of London's Institute of the Americas, told CNN that twelvemonth that Greenland's outgo could deed the trillions, portion stressing the immense governmental and ineligible complexity of immoderate specified deal.

Former New York Federal Reserve economist David Barker, however, past January valued Greenland betwixt $12.5 cardinal and $77 billion. To find those numbers, Barker looked astatine America's anterior acquisitions of Alaska and the U.S. Virgin Islands and adjusted those prices based connected GDP growth.

But Holtz-Eakin told CNBC that helium believes AAF's estimation is conservative.

"They're pricing the economics of it. But let's look it, this is not astir economics," helium said. "What terms bash you enactment connected our lasting successful NATO oregon the planetary order? I enactment a large terms connected that."

— CNBC's Justin Papp contributed to this report.