President Trump said in a post on Truth Social on Wednesday that the US “needs” Greenland, as polls released the same day show that the idea of a US takeover of the Arctic territory is extremely unpopular among American voters.
A poll from Quinnipiac University found that 89% of respondents oppose the US attempting to take over the island by military force, with just 9% in favor. It also found that 55% of American voters oppose the US purchasing Greenland, which could cost the US $700 billion, according to estimates.
A Reuters/Ipsos poll found that just 17% of Americans support Trump’s efforts to acquire Greenland, and only 4% agreed that it would be a “good idea” for the US to use military force to seize the Arctic territory. The idea is also extremely unpopular in Greenland, as a poll from last year found that 85% of Greenlanders don’t want to join the US.
Trump has claimed that the US “needs” Greenland for national security purposes, but the US already has a military base in northwestern Greenland, the Pituffik Space Base, and is free to significantly expand its military presence on the island under an agreement the US and Denmark signed in 1951.
The talking point that Trump and his allies are now going with is that if the US doesn’t take over Greenland, China or Russia could. “IF WE DON’T, RUSSIA OR CHINA WILL, AND THAT IS NOT GOING TO HAPPEN!” Trump wrote on Truth Social.
Vice President JD Vance and Secretary of State Marco Rubio met with Greenland and Denmark’s foreign ministers at the White House on Wednesday, but the talks didn’t appear to make any progress as Danish Foreign Minister Lars Løkke Rasmussen said there was still a “fundamental disagreement” over the Arctic island.
“We didn’t manage to change the American position,” Rasmussen told reporters after the meeting. “It’s clear that the president has this wish of conquering Greenland. We made it very, very clear that this is not in the interest of the kingdom.”
