President-elect Donald Trump wants to buy the territory from Denmark, which says it’s not for sale. DealBook asked experts how they’d approach the deal.
Donald Trump’s Greenland Ambition: What Would It Take?
Donald Trump, known for his passion for big real estate deals, has expressed serious interest in acquiring Greenland. However, Denmark, which oversees the island, has firmly stated that Greenland is not for sale.
But what if a negotiation were to take shape? What might the U.S. offer, and how would Greenland be valued?
David Barker, a real estate developer and former economist at the New York Fed, explored this hypothetical scenario. (Barker gained attention in 2009 when he suggested that the U.S. purchase of Alaska in 1867—less than 2 cents per acre—was a poor financial investment.) Using rough calculations, he estimated Greenland’s worth to range between $12.5 billion and $77 billion.
While Alaska might not be the best comparison, Trump has indicated national defense as a primary motive for acquiring Greenland. This wasn’t explicitly the case for the Alaska purchase, which in today’s dollars would exceed $150 million.
A more apt comparison could be the Virgin Islands. The U.S. bought the Danish West Indies from Denmark in 1917 for $25 million (around $657 million today) due to national defense concerns. While Greenland is vastly larger, the strategic value of both territories lies in their geographic locations rather than their size.
