Greenland may be a costly white elephant. Now, it is technically part of Denmark, which subsidizes Greenland to the tune of almost $700 million per year. In Greenland, “government spending came to DKK 9.6 billion [$1.4 billion], or 42 percent of GDP. Just under half of the latter sum was funded by an annual Danish government grant, which amounted to approximately 20 percent of Greenland’s GDP.”

But President Trump wants Greenland to become part of the U.S. That has damaged relations with Denmark — a NATO ally. As a result, Denmark may stop purchasing billions of dollars worth of airplanes and weapons systems from the U.S., and instead buy them from other countries. That may cost American manufacturers billions of dollars in sales.

As Reuters notes, “Trump, who first floated the idea of buying Greenland in 2019, has renewed his calls for the U.S. to take over the island since his return to the White House in January, and he has not ruled out using force to achieve this objective…The governments of both Greenland and Denmark have voiced opposition to any U.S. takeover.”