Danish activists offer to buy California from US in exchange for Greenland

The Danish initiative group Denmarkification has proposed that the kingdom purchase the state of California in response to President Donald Trump’s aspiration to annex Greenland to the US, Politico reported.

 

Campaign initiator Xavier Dutoit told the newspaper that it would cost California $1 trillion and “a lifetime supply of Danish pastries, which ‘Hollywood will pay for.’” In his opinion, contacts with the US should be made by Lego, a constructor producer, as “dealing with children throwing tantrums over missing bricks has made them experts in negotiation.”

 

The initiative proposes to raise funds for the purchase of California by crowdfunding. “That’s just 200,000 kroner from every Dane,” the Denmarkification website says. The group gives no details on how much money has already been raised, but notes that more than 198,000 people have signed the petition for the state to become part of Denmark. The authors of the initiative believe that Trump will agree to sell the state, as he “isn’t exactly California’s biggest fan” and has repeatedly called it the most devastated area in the country.

 

Trump stated on January 7 that Greenland should become part of the US and threatened to slap high trade tariffs on Denmark if it doesn’t give up the island. He suggested during his first presidential term that the US could buy Greenland. Both Greenlandic and Danish officials dismissed the proposal.

 

Greenland is part of Denmark as an autonomous territory. In 1951, Washington and Copenhagen signed the Greenland Defense Treaty, agreeing that the US will defend the island from external aggression. The island hosts a US base, Pituffik Space Base, which plays a role in the missile warning system and surveillance of the Arctic region.