Big Tech Stands to Profit From a US Takeover of Greenland
Donald Trump is doubling down on his plan to buy Greenland. A US takeover could weaken the country’s mining laws and ban on private property, aiding Trump tech donors’ plans to profit from the island’s mineral deposits and build a libertarian techno-city.
Peter Thiel is among the investors bankrolling Praxis Nation, a project aiming to use Greenland to establish a “crypto state,” a self-governing, experimental community built around libertarian ideals and technology like cryptocurrency. (Nordin Catic / Getty Images for the Cambridge Union)
President Donald Trump started his second term with his sights set on Greenland.
When Trump first proposed buying the arctic nation during his first administration, it was treated like a joke. But in a phone call last week with Denmark’s prime minister, who controls the autonomous territory’s foreign policy, the president doubled down on his efforts to seize power. In the “aggressive and confrontational” conversation, Trump threatened tariffs if he didn’t get his way. In a news conference earlier this month, he also refused to rule out the use of military force. Now Denmark is taking him seriously: on Monday, it announced a $2 billion military expansion in the Arctic.
Though the island is not for sale, the president emphasized Greenland’s importance to US national security. Left unspoken: a US takeover could weaken the country’s mining laws and ban on private property, aiding Trump donors’ plans to profit from the island’s mineral deposits and build a libertarian techno-city.
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