President elect, Donald Trump has created a lot of controversy in regard to the new territorial gains and losses urging to buy Greenland, to regain the Panama canal and to annex Canada as the 51st state. However, the concept has great geopolitical and financial problems, with Greenland alone potentially costing $1.1 trillion.
Like Trump, the latter was also keen on Greenland for his own political motives. In 1946 Truman sought to purchase the island for $100 million in gold, in today’s value is $1.3 billion. Now, Greenland sentiment improved due to long been baseless mineral and oil, a strategic place for America and any arctic nation wanting to exploit and assert dominance in the Arctic region not forgetting the traffic routes. Its acquisition cost is estimated to be between $230 million, and more than 1.1 trillion since it is rich in rare earth minerals, as well as the modern essentials such as copper and cobalt.
Annexing Greenland into the United States would make the costs rises to $1.5 trillion such costs include acquisition cost that is estimated to be between $5.7 billion and $57 billion to compensate the population of 57, 000 people in Greenland.
In a press conference Trump said that Greenland is important for security of United States of America focusing on geographical advantage of Greenland for spying on main competitors such as Russia and China. “Greenland is a corridor from the Arctic to North America,” another former Trump administration official, National Security Adviser Robert O’Brien said, noting its importance to future Arctic commerce channels.
Nevertheless Trump’s optimism, Greenlandic and Danish leaders categorically denied the proposal. Prime Minister Mute Egede for instance affirmed Greenland’s independence noting that Greenland has its own future. The same sentiment was expressed by the Danish Prime Minister Mette Frederiksen, when speaking to the self-governance of the island.
An example of territory acquisition in the past was the United States’ purchase of Alaska, and the taking of the Virgin Islands. That was true, but today’s international law emphasizes the right to self-determination, meaning Greenland and Denmark must both approve the deal, negotiate a treaty, and expend significant diplomatic capital. The audacious suggestion marks the reality of territorial annexation in the world today in this century.
