Experts reveal enormous cost to US taxpayers of one of Trump’s loftiest policy goals

Greenland Prime Minister Jens-Frederik Nielsen and Danish Prime Minister Mette Frederiksen were hoping that U.S. President Donald Trump would abandon his proposal to buy Greenland, a Danish territory. But in 2026, Trump is doubling down on the idea — and he hasn't ruled out the possibility of taking the island by force. And a group of European leaders — including German Chancellor Friedrich Merz, French President Emmanuel Macron, Spanish Prime Minister Pedro Sánchez, UK Prime Minister Keir Starmer, Polish Prime Minister Donald Franciszek Tusk, and ultra-conservative Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni — joined Nielsen and Frederiksen in saying that Greenland is not for sale in a joint statement issued on January 6.

Regardless, Trump maintains that buying Greenland is crucial to the U.S. from a national security standpoint.

Exactly how much the U.S. would pay for the island is unclear, but according to three NBC News sources, it could cost taxpayers as much as $700 billion.

In an article published on January 14, NBC News reporters Gordon Lubold, Courtney Kube, Abigail Williams and Monica Alba explain, "The estimate was generated by scholars and former U.S. officials as part of planning around Trump's aspiration to acquire the 800,000-square-mile island as a strategic buffer in the Arctic against America's top adversaries, these people said. It attaches a price tag of more than half the Defense Department's annual budget to Trump's national security priority, which has stoked anxiety across Europe and on Capitol Hill amid his rhetoric about seizing Greenland since he ordered a U.S. military raid to capture Venezuela's president and his wife."

The reporters note that the majority of Greenlanders have no desire to become part of the U.S.

According to a Verian poll from 2025, roughly 85 percent of Greenland residents oppose Trump's proposal.

"While some Trump administration officials have said the U.S. could use military force to take the island of 57,000 residents," the NBC News reporters observe, "some administration officials and outside White House allies view a U.S. attempt to purchase or form a new alliance with it as the likelier outcome."

Read the full NBC News article at this link.