Danish authorities flagged associates of Donald Trump for a crude espionage effort in Greenland aimed at preparing for a possible U.S. takeover. Denmark summoned the U.S. charge d'affaires to reiterate that the United States is not permitted to acquire Greenland. Trump has repeatedly expressed a desire to acquire Greenland, citing maps and ideas from Ronald Lauder and declaring "we're going to get it." The United States has pursued Greenland since the 19th century, with figures like William Seward nearly securing the territory after the Alaska purchase. Periodic U.S. efforts never persuaded Denmark to sell or trade Greenland.
Early Wednesday morning, Danish public broadcaster DR broke the news that several associates of Donald Trump had been flagged by the Danish Police Intelligence Service for running a shoddy espionage campaign in Greenland to soften the ground ahead of a potential push by the United States to take over the island. Shortly after the report was published, Denmark's foreign minister summoned U.S. charge d'affaires Mark Stroh to reiterate the longstanding Danish line that the U.S. is not allowed to, in Trump's words, "get" Greenland.
He has been agitating to acquire the island since his first term in office, after he apparently got the idea from Ronald Lauder, heir to the Estée Lauder fortune. "I said, 'Why don't we have that?'" Trump told the New York Times's Peter Baker. "I love maps. And I always said: 'Look at the size of this. It's massive. That should be part of the United States.'" In March, he said, "One way or the other, we're going to get it."
The U.S. has been trying to acquire Greenland from its colonial overlord Denmark since shortly after the Civil War, which is not that long after Denmark formally annexed it. William Seward, Secretary of State under Abraham Lincoln and Andrew Johnson, turned his attention to Greenland and Iceland after negotiating the purchase of Alaska, and came fairly close to securing the Arctic islands.
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