Stop Discussing the Purchase of Greenland!

Trump’s trolling of Canada, Denmark, and Panama is not just silly and distracting; it’s dangerous.

President-elect Trump likes to troll on social media. His sharp sense of humor, coupled with a lack of fear to say outlandish things, makes him very good at it. Trump has learned from his experience as president that he can get away with making absurd claims with little cost to his electoral base or his standing in elite circles. (Remember when he said we should inject our bodies with a disinfectant to kill the coronavirus?) So when President-elect Trump proposed imperialist ideas about Canada, Greenland, and Panama last week, I thought he was just trolling again.

“Many people in Canada LOVE being the 51st State. The United States can no longer suffer the massive Trade Deficits and Subsidies that Canada needs to stay afloat. Justin Trudeau knew this, and resigned.”

- @realDonaldTrump on Truth Social on January 5, 2024

“You have approximately 45,000 people there. People really don’t even know that Denmark has any legal right to it, but if they do, they should give it up because we need it for national security.”

- Donald Trump on January 7, 2025

“China is basically taking [Panama] over.” He has threatened to try to take it back and said returning it to U.S. control is ‘vital’ to national security.”

- Donald Trump on January 7, 2025

Over the years, my loyal followers on social media, especially on X, have criticized me for “feeding the trolls,” so I initially did not respond to Trump’s absurd ideas because I did not think he was serious. Several days later, however, I am struck by how many respectable people—on TV, at think tanks, and even at a dinner party at my house—are taking Trump’s “innovative” ideas seriously, especially about purchasing Greenland. The New York Times published a piece on January 11, “Considering the Cost of Purchasing Greenland.” So, I want to state bluntly why these Trump’s “innovative” ideas are very bad ideas for American national interests.

Conservatives Gather In Phoenix For Annual AmericaFest, December 22, 2024. Photo by Rebecca Noble/Getty Images

Let’s first dismiss his notions of making Canada the 51^st state or seizing the Panama Canal. Neither of those things is going to happen. I would like to dunk a basketball, but I do not have the capability to do so. Trump may want to seize Canada and the Panama Canal, but he—like me in basketball—does not have the ability to do so. Canadians do not want to join the United States. We are not going to invade our neighbor—one of our closest allies. American voters supported Trump to reduce the price of eggs, not launch an imperial war. And candidate Trump promised to keep us out of “forever wars” and never once mentioned invading Canada on the campaign trail. The same is true regarding his proposal to occupy the Panama Canal.

The idea of buying Greenland initially sounded more plausible, but it is not. It is not going to happen and it should not happen.

First, Denmark’s democratically elected government has made it very clear that Greenland is not for sale. Some MAGA loyalists have suddenly become constitutional experts on Denmark and now discuss with passion their concern for the autonomy of the Indigenous peoples of Greenland as an opportunity for the inhabitants of this island to make their own decisions about their sovereignty. The most extreme proponents of Trump’s proposal even discuss our potential role in “liberating” these subjugated people. (I do not ever recall a moment in the last decade when Trump was worried about the human rights of subjected minorities in other countries, such as the Uyghurs in China or the Chechens in Russia, but I have not studied the issue carefully.)

This is all nonsense. Americans do not have the right to intervene in the sovereign, internal affairs of other countries, especially democracies, and that includes Denmark. Trying to negotiate directly with the representatives or residents of Greenland is that—interference in the internal affairs of a foreign state. Since the end of World War II, the United States has benefited greatly from the world supporting and recognizing the norms of sovereignty enshrined in the United Nations Charter. Putin has barbarically violated that norm by invading and annexing parts of Ukraine. President Biden rightly joined the vast majority of world leaders in condemning Russia’s violation of Ukraine’s sovereignty. We—Americans—do not want to now join Putin in trying to pull apart a sovereign country. Not only would that embolden Putin’s claim in eastern Ukraine (he conducted referenda there, remember), but greenlight Xi’s seizing of Taiwan. If we think we need Greenland for national security, Xi can easily argue that he needs Taiwan.

Second, we do not need to purchase Greenland to access its critical minerals. We can buy them! It’s called “trade.” We buy chips from Taiwan without purchasing that island. Last year, we imported US$131.91 billion in mineral fuels, oils, and distillation products from Canada without buying or invading our northern neighbor. Similarly, American private companies can buy companies in Greenland without American taxpayers footing the bill for purchasing the whole island. It’s called “foreign investment.” I thought Trump believed in private enterprise?

Third, the U.S. government’s purchasing of Greenland would be much more expensive than the purchase of critical minerals by private U.S. companies. Purchasing the land, as opposed to working with our democratic ally, is wasteful and inefficient. I hope the DOGE leaders—Elon Musk and Vivek Ramaswamy—will be investigating this wasteful use of taxpayer money and weigh in against it.

Most importantly, this discussion of whether to buy Greenland is distracting us from having serious conversations about real American national security challenges, including, most importantly, China and Russia. Trump and his new national security team should be explaining to the American people their grand strategy for deterring broader wars with Russia in Europe and China in Asia, their proposals for how the United States will compete more effectively with China in the global economy, their ideas to win the global competition for artificial intelligence (AI), or their plan for how to bring enduring peace to the Middle East. (Of course, I personally would also like to hear their proposals for advancing democracy abroad and fighting climate change, but I am not holding my breath!).

Some of my colleagues who know the Trump world better than I do have encouraged me to relax and not overreact to Trump’s silly missives. “It’s just Trump being Trump,” they say. It’s just Trump—the master of the Art of the Deal—creating leverage for more serious negotiations. Trump is an isolationist at heart, not an imperialist, they assure. And he especially does not like war. While this all may be true, Trump’s rhetoric is costly to American national interests because it alienates our allies—Canada and Denmark—and offends our partners in Panama. As we enter a new era of great power competition, similar to the Cold War, we need allies now more than ever. This is one of our greatest advantages compared to China and Russia. After all, Canada has fought alongside Americans for many decades, including in Afghanistan. Denmark's Greenland is home to a vital US military base—Puffnik Space (formerly called Thule Air Base). Denmark is the second largest contributor to Ukraine on a per capita basis. Denmark is doing the very burden-sharing that Trump wants. Offending our oldest, closest, most loyal democratic allies makes no sense.

Today, we have real, major threats to American national security not only from China and Russia but also Iran, North Korea, terrorists, etc. We need strong, serious leadership to defend American national interests, and we need help from our allies to achieve our national interests. Clowning around about invading our allies or purchasing pieces of an ally is the opposite of that. C’mon, Team Trump. Get serious. American national security is not a game!