U.S. officials have discussed offering lump-sum payments to residents of Greenland as part of efforts to encourage the territory to break away from Denmark and potentially join the United States, according to four people familiar with the discussions.
While no final decision has been made and the details remain unclear, figures ranging from $10,000 to $100,000 per person have been floated in internal conversations, two of the sources said, speaking on condition of anonymity to describe sensitive deliberations.
The proposal reflects one of several options being examined by the White House to advance U.S. interest in acquiring Greenland, a semi-autonomous Danish territory of about 57,000 people that holds strategic importance for Washington because of its Arctic location and growing geopolitical competition in the region.
Danish and Greenlandic authorities have repeatedly rejected the idea that the island could be bought or transferred. Officials in Copenhagen and Nuuk have said Greenland is not for sale and that its future can only be determined by its own population.
The notion of direct cash payments highlights the transactional nature of some of the discussions in Washington and underscores the challenge the United States faces in seeking closer ties with a society that has long debated its own independence while remaining economically dependent on Denmark.
Some officials have also discussed more coercive approaches, including the possible use of U.S. military leverage, according to the sources. Such ideas risk further alienating Greenlanders, who view their relationship with Denmark and any potential move toward independence as matters of sovereignty rather than commerce.
Greenland’s Prime Minister Jens-Frederik Nielsen pushed back forcefully over the weekend after U.S. President Donald Trump again said the United States needed to acquire the island.
“Enough is enough … no more fantasies about annexation,” Nielsen wrote in a Facebook post on Sunday.
Explore more exclusive insights at nextfin.ai.
