Greenland Would Be the Largest U.S. Land Acquisition, if Trump Got His Way

New York Times - WorldCenter-LeftEN 4 min read 100% complete by Jeffrey GettlemanJanuary 13, 2026 at 02:53 PM

AI Summary

medium article 4 min

In January 2026, the article reports on President Trump's continued interest in the United States acquiring Greenland from Denmark. Trump cites national security concerns related to Russia and China as justification, though some believe his interest stems from the island's size. Greenland, at 836,000 square miles, would be the largest U.S. land acquisition in history, surpassing the Louisiana Purchase, Mexican Cession, and Alaska Purchase. Despite ongoing discussions involving Secretary of State Marco Rubio with Danish and Greenlandic officials, both Denmark and Greenland maintain that the island is not for sale. Trump has expressed a desire to acquire Greenland "the easy way," but has also alluded to alternative methods if necessary.

Key Entities & Roles

Key Player Opposition Context

David Silbey 30% CIA World Factbook 35% National Archives 35% Marco Rubio 40% China 50% Russia 50% United States ×475% Denmark ×380% Donald Trump ×690% Greenland ×1195%

Keywords

greenland acquisition 100% u.s. land acquisition 90% territorial expansion 70% national security 60% denmark 60% historical purchases 50% real estate 50% political deal 40%

Sentiment Analysis

Negative

Score: -0.30

Source Transparency

Source

New York Times - World

Political Lean

Center-Left (-0.30)

Far LeftCenterFar Right

Classification Confidence

90%

Geographic Perspective

Greenland

This article was automatically classified using rule-based analysis. The political bias score ranges from -1 (far left) to +1 (far right).

Topic Connections

Explore how the topics in this article connect to other news stories

No topic relationship data available yet. This graph will appear once topic relationships have been computed.

greenland acquisition u.s. land acquisition territorial expansion national security denmark historical purchases real estate political deal

Explore Full Topic Graph