{"id":222620,"date":"2026-01-08T04:23:10","date_gmt":"2026-01-08T04:23:10","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/222620\/"},"modified":"2026-01-08T04:23:10","modified_gmt":"2026-01-08T04:23:10","slug":"trumps-greenland-idea-isnt-new-the-us-has-pursued-it-at-least-3-times-before","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/222620\/","title":{"rendered":"Trump’s Greenland idea isn’t new, the US has pursued it at least 3 times before"},"content":{"rendered":"

US President Donald Trump\u2019s renewed interest in acquiring Greenland from Denmark<\/a> fits into a long, little-known pattern in US history. From quiet discussions after the American Civil War to a US$100 million offer in the wake of World War II, American leaders have repeatedly seen Greenland as a strategic prize.<\/p>\n

Here\u2019s a look:<\/p>\n

1867\u20131868: Early US interest after the Alaska purchase<\/p>\n

After the US bought Alaska from Russia, officials under Secretary of State William Seward discussed acquiring Greenland as part of a broader push into the Arctic.<\/p>\n

Seward noted the territory was rich in natural resources, including coal. But the idea never advanced to a formal offer, as Congress had little interest in pursuing another Arctic acquisition.<\/p>\n

1910: Proposed land swap involving Greenland<\/p>\n

Under US President William Howard Taft, American diplomats floated a complex land-exchange plan that would have transferred Greenland to the United States in return for concessions elsewhere. Denmark rejected the proposal, and it quickly collapsed.<\/p>\n

\"The<\/p>\n

The remote Pituffik Space Base, the US Department of Defence\u2019s northernmost installation. (Source: Associated Press)<\/p>\n

1946: Formal post\u2013World War II purchase offer<\/p>\n

At the outset of the Cold War, US President Harry Truman’s administration formally offered Denmark US$100 million in gold to buy Greenland, citing its strategic importance. During World War II, a US-built airfield on the island had served as a major refuelling point for military planes en route to Europe.<\/p>\n

Denmark rejected Truman’s offer, though the US retained military access. That presence continues today at the remote Pituffik Space Base, the US Department of Defence\u2019s northernmost installation.<\/p>\n

Trump discussing ‘a range of options’ to take Greenland – Watch on TVNZ+<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"US President Donald Trump\u2019s renewed interest in acquiring Greenland from Denmark fits into a long, little-known pattern in…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":222621,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3],"tags":[65,42,43,64,40,38,41,39,1745,66],"class_list":["post-222620","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-headlines","tag-donald-trump","tag-headlines","tag-news","tag-north-america","tag-top-news","tag-top-stories","tag-topnews","tag-topstories","tag-uk-europe","tag-us-politics"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/222620","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=222620"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/222620\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/222621"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=222620"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=222620"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=222620"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}