# Ok, Trump buys Greenland. **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [August 28, 2019, 5:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ok-trump-buys-greenland/839370 "2019-08-28T17:31:49Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Son\_of\_a\_Rich](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/son_of_a_rich/32/5439_2.png) [@Son\_of\_a\_Rich](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Son_of_a_Rich)\ **Post date:** [August 28, 2019, 5:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ok-trump-buys-greenland/839370/1 "2019-08-28T17:31:49Z")
Where does the money come from? ---
**Author:** ![Procrustus](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/procrustus/32/2994_2.png) [@Procrustus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Procrustus)\ **Post date:** [August 28, 2019, 5:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ok-trump-buys-greenland/839370/2 "2019-08-28T17:32:49Z")
Mexico will pay for it. Denmark then pays for the Southern Border wall. ---
**Author:** ![engineer\_comp\_geek](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/engineer_comp_geek/32/504_2.png) [@engineer\_comp\_geek](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/engineer_comp_geek)\ **Post date:** [August 28, 2019, 5:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ok-trump-buys-greenland/839370/3 "2019-08-28T17:40:45Z")
Good question. If we look back historically, the Louisiana Purchase was made with a combination of gold and wiping away debt that France owed to the US. On the other hand, when we purchased Alaska, the Treasury had enough cash on hand that we just paid for it by check. Seriously. Here’s a picture of the check. [![](https://www.archives.gov/files/publications/prologue/1994/winter/alaska-warrant-19-2797.jpg) ](https://www.archives.gov/files/publications/prologue/1994/winter/alaska-warrant-19-2797.jpg) Depending on the purchase price of Greenland and the amount of funds that the Treasury has available, all kinds of things are possible. I seriously doubt that we would do an old-fashioned gold transfer these days. ---
**Author:** ![PastTense](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/pasttense/32/14550_2.png) [@PastTense](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/PastTense)\ **Post date:** [August 28, 2019, 5:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ok-trump-buys-greenland/839370/4 "2019-08-28T17:41:19Z")
Just borrow it; there is a current thread on Trump adding $4 trillion to the national debt–the cost of Greenland would be insignificant compared to this amount. [http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?t=880417](http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?t=880417) ---
**Author:** ![engineer\_comp\_geek](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/engineer_comp_geek/32/504_2.png) [@engineer\_comp\_geek](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/engineer_comp_geek)\ **Post date:** [August 28, 2019, 5:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ok-trump-buys-greenland/839370/5 "2019-08-28T17:41:23Z")
**Moderator Note** > [@Procrustus](#): > > Mexico will pay for it. Denmark then pays for the Southern Border wall. Let’s keep the political snark out of GQ, please. ---
**Author:** ![OldGuy](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/o/3bc359/32.png) [@OldGuy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/OldGuy)\ **Post date:** [August 28, 2019, 5:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ok-trump-buys-greenland/839370/6 "2019-08-28T17:41:58Z")
If Trump buys it he pays for it. If the US buys it, there’d need to be a treaty approved by the Senate (if sovereignty was to be transferred) and a bill authorizing the funding. ---
**Author:** ![eschrodinger](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/eschrodinger/32/122_2.png) [@eschrodinger](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/eschrodinger)\ **Post date:** [August 28, 2019, 5:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ok-trump-buys-greenland/839370/7 "2019-08-28T17:43:43Z")
What are you looking for as a factual answer? Congress would presumably have to appropriate the money. As to what the source of those funds would be, I don’t think there’s a GQ answer to that, as far as what budget item is cut, or tax raised or created, etc. ---
**Author:** ![Dewey\_Finn](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dewey_finn/32/4222_2.png) [@Dewey\_Finn](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dewey_Finn)\ **Post date:** [August 28, 2019, 9:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ok-trump-buys-greenland/839370/8 "2019-08-28T21:31:03Z")
Assuming the people of Denmark and Greenland agreed, how would a purchase price be determined? ---
**Author:** ![Chronos](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/chronos/32/134_2.png) [@Chronos](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chronos)\ **Post date:** [August 28, 2019, 10:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ok-trump-buys-greenland/839370/9 "2019-08-28T22:00:39Z")
By negotiations between all of the parties, same as any price is determined. ---
**Author:** ![Dewey\_Finn](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dewey_finn/32/4222_2.png) [@Dewey\_Finn](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dewey_Finn)\ **Post date:** [August 28, 2019, 10:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ok-trump-buys-greenland/839370/10 "2019-08-28T22:05:06Z")
I get that. I was just wondering just how much the purchase price might be. $10 billion? $100 billion? ---
**Author:** ![engineer\_comp\_geek](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/engineer_comp_geek/32/504_2.png) [@engineer\_comp\_geek](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/engineer_comp_geek)\ **Post date:** [August 28, 2019, 10:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ok-trump-buys-greenland/839370/11 "2019-08-28T22:29:16Z")
> [@Dewey\_Finn](#): > > I get that. I was just wondering just how much the purchase price might be. $10 billion? $100 billion? I’ve seen speculation online ranging anywhere from $200 million to $800 billion. That’s a pretty wide range. The $200 million number comes from taking what we paid for Alaska and adjusting that for both inflation and the size difference between Alaska and Greenland. The $800 billion number comes from comparing land values to existing states. $1.3 billion was thrown around in a lot of news articles, but that number is based solely on the fact that the U.S. offered to buy Greenland for $100 million back in 1946. Take that $100 million and adjust it for inflation and you get the $1.3 billion number. Greenland doesn’t exactly have a history of being sold, so there’s not much precedence to go on to establish a sale price. How eager the U.S. is to buy it and how eager Greenland is to be sold would also factor into the price. Seeing how there isn’t much support on either side for a sale, any price you come up with is going to be wild speculation. ---
**Author:** ![Gremson](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/eb8c5e/32.png) [@Gremson](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Gremson)\ **Post date:** [August 28, 2019, 11:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ok-trump-buys-greenland/839370/12 "2019-08-28T23:08:43Z")
I kind of think Greenland might be getting smaller. Is this another example of Trump’s alleged business acumen? Maybe he can take the ice as it falls off and sell it on Mars which would pay part of the cost. ---
**Author:** ![pool](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/pool/32/4152_2.png) [@pool](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/pool)\ **Post date:** [August 28, 2019, 11:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ok-trump-buys-greenland/839370/13 "2019-08-28T23:43:35Z")
Wow we really got Alaska for a bargain it seems, in retrospect. ---
**Author:** ![Banksiaman](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/banksiaman/32/3334_2.png) [@Banksiaman](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Banksiaman)\ **Post date:** [August 28, 2019, 11:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ok-trump-buys-greenland/839370/14 "2019-08-28T23:50:10Z")
i can see some general strategic benefit in buying it, especially if global warming makes an Arctic passage feasible. It might even be attractive for shipping between Europe and China/Japan, and complete the Belt-Road. If so, the price would need to take account of untested future market potential, but both the Suez Canal and Panama Canal were globally transformative when they were opened. i’m sure the Danes would know this, and also sure they’d know that gold was discovered in Alaska about 15 seconds after the sale notice was filed [_great picture of the cheque - Engineer-Comp-Geek_]. Since I’ve not read all that much on the proposal is there any discussion that Trump may just like the idea of picking up a large cheap landmass because it fits his idea of Great Leader = Territorial Expansion? [and I’m asking that in an apolitical-unsnarky way, of course for the sake of knowledge]. ---
**Author:** ![Aspidistra](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/aspidistra/32/3894_2.png) [@Aspidistra](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Aspidistra)\ **Post date:** [August 29, 2019, 12:29am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ok-trump-buys-greenland/839370/15 "2019-08-29T00:29:40Z")
> [@Gremson](#): > > I kind of think Greenland might be getting smaller. Is this another example of Trump’s alleged business acumen? > > Maybe he can take the ice as it falls off and sell it on Mars which would pay part of the cost. Actually the melting ice makes Greenland [pop up out of the sea](https://www.popsci.com/as-its-ice-sheet-melts-greenland-is-rising-faster-than-expected/). Buy now and see your investment grow! ---
**Author:** ![pmwgreen](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/edb3f5/32.png) [@pmwgreen](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/pmwgreen)\ **Post date:** [August 29, 2019, 5:05am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ok-trump-buys-greenland/839370/16 "2019-08-29T05:05:07Z")
There is really no doubt. The Greenland ice field will melt, sooner or later, but probably sooner. And, given that, there will be exposed untold resources of, well, whatever you’d like really. Precious metals, rare earths, oil, gas, whatever. If the Greenland government isn’t thick, all that will be either figured in the price, or sold beforehand to the highest bidder. Does the US buy it? Russia gave away it’s resources to it’s citizens who then sold them ten cents on the dollar to a few oligarchs. I can’t see that happening here. Everyone knows what’s at stake. Either a) we pull off the biggest heist in history, b) we pay enough to bankrupt the US treasury, or c) we walk away. It ought to cost a trillion at least, TBH. ---
**Author:** ![Sunspace](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/sunspace/32/1250_2.png) [@Sunspace](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sunspace)\ **Post date:** [August 29, 2019, 5:14am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ok-trump-buys-greenland/839370/17 "2019-08-29T05:14:22Z")
So, what would happen to the people there? Do they wake up US citizens one morning? ---
**Author:** ![UDS](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/u/ecae2f/32.png) [@UDS](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/UDS)\ **Post date:** [August 29, 2019, 6:15am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ok-trump-buys-greenland/839370/18 "2019-08-29T06:15:22Z")
> [@Sunspace](#): > > So, what would happen to the people there? Do they wake up US citizens one morning? There’d be a treaty by which Greenland was ceded to the United States. In past instances, the purchased areas became US territories, only later being admitted as states. However it’s unlikely that the Greenlanders would go for that, so if this were to happen at all it might have to be on terms that Greenland would become a state right from the get-go. Either way, yes, the treaty would almost certainly provide that Greenlanders would all immediately become US citizens - that’s what happened on the previous occasions when the US purchased territory. ---
**Author:** ![Francis\_Vaughan](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/francis_vaughan/32/3093_2.png) [@Francis\_Vaughan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Francis_Vaughan)\ **Post date:** [August 29, 2019, 9:30am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ok-trump-buys-greenland/839370/19 "2019-08-29T09:30:06Z")
Given the current state of progress towards autonomy in Greenland, and the very brief time they have been part of Denmark, it isn’t all that clear that Denmark has any right to sell Greenland to anyone. I wonder if the US would consider selling Puerto Rico to another nation, and how the inhabitants or international law would view the sale? Whilst not identical, there is a lot in common with Greenland. ---
**Author:** ![abel29a](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/ebca7d/32.png) [@abel29a](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/abel29a)\ **Post date:** [August 29, 2019, 10:23am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ok-trump-buys-greenland/839370/20 "2019-08-29T10:23:45Z")
The Danes stole Greenland from Norway, who in turn more or less nicked it from the Inuits - so, I’m guessing a good old fashioned land-grab heist shouldn’t be tabled completely 🙂 [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ok-trump-buys-greenland/839370.md?page=2)