US officials have discussed the possibility of lump-sum payments to Greenlanders as one way to persuade them to secede from Denmark and potentially join the United States, four unnamed sources familiar with the matter told Reuters.
Two sources said U.S. officials, including White House aides, had discussed amounts ranging from $10.000 to $100.000 per resident of Greenland, the world's largest island.
The idea of directly paying the residents of Greenland, an autonomous overseas territory of Denmark, is one explanation for why the US might try to "buy" the island, home to 57.000 people, despite the insistence of authorities in both Copenhagen and Nuuk that it is not for sale.
This tactic is one of various plans the White House is considering for Greenland's accession to the United States, one of which is the use of the US military.
However, direct payment would be criticized as too transactional, even humiliating for a population that has long debated its own independence and economic dependence on Denmark.
"Enough! No more annexation fantasies," Greenland Prime Minister Jens-Frederik Nielsen wrote on Facebook on Sunday, after US President Donald Trump again told reporters that the US must annex the island.
Leaders of Denmark and other European countries have reacted with disdain to comments by Trump and other US officials about US claims to Greenland, partly because the US and Denmark are NATO allies, bound by a mutual defence treaty.
The United Kingdom, France, Germany, Italy, Spain, Poland and Denmark issued a joint statement on Tuesday, stating that only Greenland and Denmark can decide on issues concerning their relations.
Trump has long said the US should annex Greenland for several reasons, including that the island is rich in minerals needed for advanced military technology. He also says the Western Hemisphere should be under Washington's geopolitical influence.
Trump's aides were considering ways to seize Greenland even before his return to the White House in January last year, and the issue has come back into focus after US authorities captured Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro in Caracas on January 3, sources familiar with the internal discussions told Reuters.
One source said White House aides want to use the momentum created by the successful military operation in Venezuela to pursue other long-standing geopolitical goals.
A White House official said Tuesday that concluding a Free Association Agreement (COFA) with Greenland is one of the options being discussed among Trump's aides.
The details of the Free Association Agreement, which the United States has so far concluded only with the small island states of Micronesia (the Marshall Islands and Palau), vary depending on the signatories. The U.S. government typically provides many important services, such as mail delivery and military protection, while the U.S. military in return operates freely in those countries and their trade with the United States is largely tariff-free.
The US has so far signed the Free Association Agreement with independent countries, meaning Greenland would likely have to secede from Denmark to implement such a plan. Theoretically, US payments to Greenlanders could be used to encourage them to vote for independence or to sign the Free Association Agreement after such a vote.
Polls show that a clear majority of Greenlanders want independence from Denmark, but most lawmakers are not calling a referendum on independence because, among other things, they are concerned about the economic costs of secession. Polls also show that a majority of Greenlanders oppose joining the United States.
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