Trump Admin Reportedly Looking at $100,000 Payments For Greenlanders to Join US

Sergi Reboredo/VWPics via AP Images & Andrea Renault/STAR MAX/IPx

The Trump administration is reportedly discussing sending payments to Greenlanders to sway the population to back the U.S. takeover of the territory from Denmark.

The bombshell report from Reuters cited “four sources familiar with the matter” and added that “while the exact dollar figure and logistics of any payment are unclear, U.S. officials, including White House aides, have discussed figures ranging from $10,000 to $100,000 per person, said two of the sources, who requested anonymity to discuss internal deliberations.”

Reuters reported earlier in the week that the White House is weighing various options for “acquiring” Greenland, which the Trump White House has stated is an official policy goal of the U.S.

“President Trump has made it well known that acquiring Greenland is a national security priority of the United States, and it’s vital to deter our adversaries in the Arctic region. The president and his team are discussing a range of options to pursue this important foreign policy goal, and of course, utilizing the U.S. military is always an option at the commander-in-chief’s disposal,” the White House said in a statement on Tuesday.

Secretary of State Marco Rubio later added that the U.S. is looking to buy Greenland, not invade it. Rubio made the comment to lawmakers on Wednesday, with the apparent goal of de-escalating rising tensions with Europe, given that Greenland is an official territory of Denmark – a NATO ally.

Some 57,000 people live in Greenland and their leadership has explicitly rejected any notion that the territory is for sale. “Enough is enough … No more fantasies about annexation,” Greenland’s Prime Minister Jens-Frederik Nielsen wrote over the weekend on social media.