Greenland's future

Trump's alleged plan for Greenland: Persuasion instead of invasion

Donald Trump is moving forward with his plan to take over control of Greenland from Denmark. According to the New York Times, an official plan for how this will be done is starting to take shape, and several meetings have reportedly been held on the issue in the National Security Council.

The information does not state exactly what the plan looks like, but what is clear is that the US has not been serious about its threats to use military force to take over the island. Instead, the plan is to persuade Greenland's approximately 57,000 inhabitants to voluntarily join the US.

Trump's advisers are said to have talked about using advertising and social media and highlighting the Greenlanders' shared heritage with the Inuit, Alaska's indigenous people.

They are also considering paying the Greenlanders around 100,000 kronor per person and year.

The newspaper describes the campaign as a fight against headwinds. In last month's Greenlandic elections, it was clear that Greenlanders do not want to join the United States.

Sources: Want to make Greenland a "libertarian utopia"

Several major tech investors want to make Greenland an American "freedom city", sources tell Reuters.

The plan is roughly that Greenland will become a hub for costly and heavily regulated activities such as AI, self-driving cars, high-speed trains, space launches and nuclear power. The difference is that the companies will have significantly looser regulations.

"A libertarian utopia", the sources describe it as.

At the center of the plan is Ken Howery, who is proposed to be the new US ambassador to Denmark. Together with Elon Musk, he was involved in the fintech company Paypal early on and the two are said to still be friends. Expressen notes that Howery was the US ambassador to Sweden during Trump's first term.

Reuters reports that Howery, along with Paypal founder Peter Thiel, has previously been a leading voice for the creation of "freedom cities".