While U.S. President Donald Trump seems adamant in his pursuit of the world鈥檚 largest island, Americans are broadly opposed to his annexation plans. In a recent YouGov survey, just 8 percent of U.S. adults said they鈥檇 support using military force to take control of Greenland, while 13 percent supported the idea of paying Greenlanders to encourage them to vote for secession from Denmark and joining the United States. Interestingly, Trump鈥檚 arctic annexation plans face bipartisan opposition, which is increasingly rare in the current, highly polarized political landscape. While it鈥檚 no surprise that Democrats are overwhelmingly against taking over Greenland, the low support among Republicans shows how unpopular the 补诲尘颈苍颈蝉迟谤补迟颈辞苍鈥檚 territorial claims are 鈥 even among Trump鈥檚 supporters.
Over the past few days, Trump has ramped up the pressure on European leaders in his attempt to make Greenland part of the United States. On the weekend, he threatened Denmark, Norway, Sweden, France, Germany, the UK, the Netherlands and Finland with a new 10-percent tariff on all exports to the United States starting February 1. The tariff, Trump said, would be increased to 25 percent on June 1 and only be withdrawn if a deal for the 鈥渃omplete and total purchase of Greenland鈥 is reached.
