US secretary of state Marco Rubio is expected to prepare a proposal to buy Greenland for $700 billion, NBC reports. January 14, 2026 Meeting, Vice President JD Vance and Secretary of State Marco Rubio met with Danish Foreign Minister Lars Løkke Rasmussen and Greenland’s Foreign Minister Vivian Motzfeldt at the White House. No deal was reached, with Denmark and Greenland reiterating that Greenland is not for sale. However, they agreed to establish a high-level working group for technical talks to address US security concerns (e.g., military presence) while respecting Denmark’s “red lines.” The group is expected to meet first in weeks, with ongoing discussions every 2-3 weeks.
$700 Billion Offer Estimate is not an official bid but a planning figure calculated by scholars and former US officials, potentially ranging $600-900B (more than half the Pentagon’s annual budget). It factors in land value ($200-220B), resources, infrastructure, and compensation.
The figure could plausibly move closer to $900 billion for Denmark. Norway’s sovereign wealth fund, widely regarded as the global benchmark, stands at around $1.8 trillion. A $900 billion transaction would place Denmark’s wealth overnight at roughly half the scale of Norway, one of the richest countries on earth. Over the past 10 years, the Norwegian wealth fund delivered an average annual return of 7.25 percent. Applied to $900 billion, that equates to $65 billion per year in returns, or about €56 billion. Denmark’s total annual state budget is roughly $140 billion, or €124 billion. Investment income alone would therefore cover close to half of Denmark’s entire annual budget every single year, in perpetuity, without touching the principal.
That kind of recurring income changes everything. Taxes could be cut dramatically, turbocharging growth and turning Denmark into one of the most competitive economies in Europe.
Teenagers in Greenland are ready to sell Greenland if they can get $100,000 each, that would be only ~$5 billion to buy Greenland. There are only 57,000 residents in Greenland 😳 pic.twitter.com/b5SyAahcQv
— Nick shirley (@nickshirleyy) January 15, 2025
I did the math.
If we gave EVERY Greenlander a MILLION DOLLARS – that would cost us $57 Billion total.
Less than a THIRD of what we’ve given Ukraine.
It takes a 51% vote to split from Denmark.
How many Greenlanders do you think would go for it? pic.twitter.com/6ywkAEoppr
— Chanel Rion OAN (@ChanelRion) January 8, 2025
The US offer of $700 billion for Greenland is not just large, it is historically massive. With serious negotiation, that figure could plausibly move closer to $900 billion for Denmark. To put that into perspective, Norway’s sovereign wealth fund, widely regarded as the global… pic.twitter.com/QcjlI9vgUw
— Torsten Prochnow (@TorstenProchnow) January 16, 2026
Brian Wang is a Futurist Thought Leader and a popular Science blogger with 1 million readers per month. His blog Nextbigfuture.com is ranked #1 Science News Blog. It covers many disruptive technology and trends including Space, Robotics, Artificial Intelligence, Medicine, Anti-aging Biotechnology, and Nanotechnology.
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