US may have to spend as much as $700 billion to buy Greenland: Report | World News
People walk in downtown of Nuuk, Greenland, on Tuesday, Jan. 13, 2026. (AP Photo/Evgeniy Maloletka)
Donald Trump on Wednesday repeated his claim that the United States needs Greenland for the purpose of national security, even as a possible military action to acquire the island from Denmark continues to make NATO uncomfortable.
The US has also offered to buy Greenland, the world’s largest island. According to NBC News, the Trump adminration is looking at a bill of up to $700 billion to buy Greenland.
Tours kayak at sea in front of Nuuk Cathedral in Nuuk, Greenland, June 16, 2025. (AP Photo/Kwiyeon Ha, File)
A senior White House official told NBC News that US Secretary of State Marco Rubio has been directed to come up with a proposal in the coming weeks to purchase Greenland, describing such a plan as a “high priority” for Trump.
What other estimates say
While the Trump adminration is looking at a cost of $700 billion, other estimates put the price tag for Greenland at ‘in the trillion’.
A woman cleans her car from snow in Nuuk, Greenland, on Monday, Jan. 12, 2026. (AP Photo/Evgeniy Maloletka)
According to a study published in January 2025, which cited data from geological surveys in the US, Denmark, and Greenland, the value of the mineral resources in the island alone is more than $4.4 trillion.Story continues below this ad
An estimate the American Action Forum has said that it could cost nearly $2.8 trillion to buy Greenland, which has an area of 800,000-square-miles.
How much has the US offered?
Though Trump first made the offer to buy Greenland in 2019, he has so far refused to disclose how much the US was willing to pay for the strategically important island.
The last time the US had put a price tag on Greenland was back in 1946, when President Harry Truman made the only formal offer – $100 million in gold, which in 2026 inflation-adjusted dollars is the equivalent of $1.7 billion.
Denmark and Greenland rejected the offer in 1946 and continue to do so in 2026.Story continues below this ad
What Greenland said
Greenland’s Prime Miner Jens-Frederik Nielsen told a news conference in the Danish capital Copenhagen on Tuesday that, “if we have to choose between the United States and Denmark here and now, we choose Denmark. We choose NATO. We chose the Kingdom of Denmark. We choose the EU.”
