Americans Oppose Taking Greenland One Way or the Other

While U.S. President Donald Trump seems adamant in his pursuit of the world’s largest island, Americans are broadly opposed to his annexation plans. In a recent YouGov survey, just 8 percent of U.S. adults said they’d support using military force to take control of Greenland, while 13 percent supported the idea of paying Greenlanders to encourage them to vote for secession from Denmark and joining the United States. Interestingly, Trump’s arctic annexation plans face bipartisan opposition, which is increasingly rare in the current, highly polarized political landscape. While it’s no surprise that Democrats are overwhelmingly against taking over Greenland, the low support among Republicans shows how unpopular the administration’s territorial claims are – even among Trump’s supporters.

Over the past few days, Trump has ramped up the pressure on European leaders in his attempt to make Greenland part of the United States. On the weekend, he threatened Denmark, Norway, Sweden, France, Germany, the UK, the Netherlands and Finland with a new 10-percent tariff on all exports to the United States starting February 1. The tariff, Trump said, would be increased to 25 percent on June 1 and only be withdrawn if a deal for the “complete and total purchase of Greenland” is reached.