Trump has options to acquire Greenland, but few are realistic: Expert

WASHINGTON -- The Trump administration remains steadfast in acquiring Greenland, despite the island's leaders refusing to give it up as Vice President JD Vance and second lady Usha Vance travel to the country on Friday.

"We need Greenland for national security and international security. So, we'll, I think, we'll go as far as we have to go," President Donald Trump told reporters on Wednesday.

Vance has touted Greenlands "incredible natural resources" in speeches that call for the territory's acquisition for its riches in gold, copper and rare earth materials.

Trump's ambitions aren't far-fetched, according to an international relations expert who told ABC News that there are some avenues in which the U.S. could realistically acquire the autonomous Danish territory.

However, international policy, laws and decades-long economic and political partnerships make Trump's wishes extremely improbable, according to Phillip Lipscy, professor of political science at the University of Toronto.

"This kind of rhetoric hasn't been part of U.S. foreign policymaking since World War II," he told ABC News. "If the United States moves forward with this, this would be a game changer."

Lipscy noted that while acquiring Greenland would bolster the U.S.'s security in the Arctic Circle, such a move is not needed because of NATO nations' strong military and naval presence.

Annexation is not new in U.S. history, going back to the Louisiana Purchase in 1803, when the U.S acquired a major portion of what is now the central part of the country was acquired in a deal with France.

The last time that the U.S. was given land that became territories was when it acquired three Pacific Ocean island groups as part of the post-World War II agreement with the United Nations in 1947 known as the Trust Territory of the Pacific Islands.

That deal took years of negotiating and an agreement from several nations who worked out the geopolitical landscape of post-war Oceania.

Only one of those island groups, the Marianas Islands, remains a U.S. territory.

ALSO SEE: Trump says US will 'go as far as we have to' to get control of Greenland

Lipscy said such deals between sovereign nations have dwindled over the decades in exchange for agreements such as limited military partnerships, trade deals and other treaties, which take far less time and help keep the sovereignty of nations.

Trump and the U.S. would have to negotiate with Denmark's government for a sale or an annexation of Greenland if he were to take over the land without violating international law or using the military to take the country by force.

Greenland's politics are already making any such negotiation difficult, according to Lipscy.

Greenland is a self-sovereign territory of Denmark with its own elected government, with Denmark's parliament handling international matters.

There has been a movement within the island to be independent from Denmark that will be a key factor in any future plans of a U.S. acquisition, according to Lipscy.

"Certainly, there may be a diplomatic solution that starts with an independent Greenlandbut it's difficult to see that situation," he said.

In elections earlier this month, pro-independence parties won the most seats in parliament but neither want to be part of the U.S. Greenland is now forming a coalition government in the wake of the election.

Greenland's government and its residents have loudly protested Trump since he began talking about acquiring it in December. He floated the idea earlier in his first term in 2019 but didn't pursue it.

"Greenland belongs to the Greenlanders. We are not Americans, we are not Danes because we are Greenlanders. This is what the Americans and their leaders need to understand. We cannot be bought and we cannot be ignored," Greenlands Prime Minister Mute Bourup Egede said in a Facebook post earlier this month.

Egede also called Friday's visit by the Vances and other U.S. officials, including national security adviser Mike Waltz and Energy Secretary Chris Wright, part of a "very aggressive American pressure against the Greenlandic community" and called for the international community to rebuke it.

The Danish government has also pushed back hard on Trump's calls to acquire Greenland and has encouraged its residents to speak out against it.

"They know well that Greenland isn't for sale. They know well that Greenland doesn't want to be a part of the United States," Danish Prime Mette Frederiksen said in a statement Wednesday.

"The attention is overwhelming and the pressure is great. But it's in times like these that you show what fabric you're made of. You haven't let yourselves be cowed. You have stood up for who you are - and you have shown what you stand for. It has my deepest respect," she added.

Frederiksen said that other European nations are also on Denmark's side in this back-and-forth with Trump, already hampering the ties between the U.S. and its allies since Trump regained office.

Lipscy said that such a purchase would take a long time and would likely stretch long beyond Trump's term, especially if the Greenland and Danish leadership and their people continue to reject Trump's calls.

If Trump continued to ignore the wishes of Greenland and Denmark, it would also strain those relationships and affect economic, national security and political alliances that have been in place since the end of World War II, Lipscy said.

"It would signal the U.S. can no longer be trusted to be a reliable partner and hold international norms," he said. "No one would want to do any type of deal, partnership or negotiation."

Trump has refused to rule out military action to take over Greenland, but Lipscy said that a full-on military acquisition would also not sit well in the domestic and international political field and, most importantly, among the American people.

A poll released by the Wall Street Journal days before Trump returned to the White House found that 68% of Americans opposed the idea.

"The idea of territorial expansion is coming predominantly from the president himself and there isn't any widespread agreement on acquiring from the public or the Republican Party," Lipscy said.

He predicted that while Trump may be "banging the table" more to make his goal a reality, it wont move the needle beyond his base because the general public knows that such a move would be costly and ultimately not help national security.

"I think even if the ultimate goal of the U.S. government is to secure closer ties with Greenland, the way the administration is going about with its policymaking is deeply counterproductive and unlikely to get the result they are seeking," he said.