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The U.S. has intermittently expressed an interest in buying Greenland since 1867, and in 1946, President Harry Truman actually offered to purchase it for $100 million (the equivalent of $1.316 billion today).
While there is absolutely no sign that Denmark or the mostly autonomous Greenlanders themselves would be interested in becoming part of the U.S., it does make a certain sense for them. Greenland holds no military value for a nation as small as Denmark, which has no need to worry itself with “force projection” the way the U.S. does. And while the natural resources could be as valuable to Denmark as they would be to the U.S., Denmark right now spends nearly $600 million annually in subsidies to Greenland’s government. Ridding itself of those costs, plus getting a big lump-sump payment from its American allies to boot, could be a good deal for the Danes.
Each major time the U.S. has bought territory — the Louisiana Purchase in 1803, Alaska in 1867, what are now the U.S. Virgin Islands in 1917 — has proved to be a good investment. This one might be just as wise.