Is President Trump Thinking About Greenland Again?

President Trump hasn’t talked much about Greenland in recent months. That doesn’t mean he has forgotten about it. His recent declaration that Medicare and Medicaid will soon pay for weight loss drugs such as Zepbound and Wegovy could be the key that unlocks Trump’s Greenland ambitions.

That’s because Denmark, which controls Greenland, is home to Novo Nordisk, the company that makes Ozempic and Wegovy. Trump’s deal is estimated to allow millions of Americans to access these drugs for weight loss for a mere $50 monthly co-pay, much less than the $499 a month that people currently pay if their insurance plan does not cover these medications.

The U.S. taxpayer will pick up the difference between that $50 and the $245 a month price that Trump has negotiated. That means Novo Nordisk could be looking at a significant cash influx once the plan starts in mid-2026.

The ultimate payoff could even be higher. Many private insurance companies look closely at Medicare coverage decisions when choosing their own health plans. Even a small increase in private insurance coverage could add billions of dollars a year in sales.

This would be a significant boon to Denmark’s economy. At its height, Novo Nordisk’s market capitalization was larger than the entire country’s GDP. The company’s recent slowdown in sales as it faces competition from Eli Lilly’s drugs has hit Denmark hard. The government recently cut its growth forecast by more than half, in large part because of Novo Nordisk’s difficulties.

Trump’s Medicare and Medicaid plans will turn that around. Novo Nordisk may be facing increased competition, but expanding the market for weight loss drugs will lift the fortunes for all manufacturers.

This will give Trump leverage in any discussions with Danish Prime Minister Mette Frederiksen over Greenland. Making Novo Nordisk dependent even in part on U.S. government–financed medical programs means it — and thereby the nation itself — is exposed to Trump’s whims or designs.

Frederiksen also faces a difficult reelection bid next fall. Her Social Democrats just suffered a crushing defeat in local elections, losing control of Copenhagen for the first time in over a century. Polls show the party running well behind its 2022 performance, with its coalition partners, the Liberals and Moderates, suffering even more. She surely would want to showcase a strong, growing economy as she tries for another term in office.

It doesn’t take much imagination to see Trump approach the beleaguered prime minister with a trademark deal. Trump agrees to maintain and perhaps even expand access to Novo Nordisk’s products. In exchange, Frederiksen gives Trump things he wants with respect to Greenland.

She cannot agree to sell the island to the United States as Trump has suggested. That would be massively unpopular with Danes and would need to be approved by the Greenlandic parliament in any event, owing to its status as a self-governing nation within the Danish Realm. But she could give him the substance of what he wants: expanded defense agreements that include a permanent American presence.

The Danish government still governs Greenland’s defense policy, giving Frederiksen the ability to grant the U.S. a significant defense presence. That could include a number of things: an expansion of the base the U.S. already hosts there, additional bases to expand surveillance of Chinese and Russian presence in the Arctic, or perhaps even a small naval or air base.

This could be coupled with an expansion of recent Danish efforts to beef up its military presence on the island. All nations would benefit from a coordinated, permanent effort to use Greenland’s Arctic location as a springboard to defending shared interests in resisting Russian and Chinese domination of the Arctic Ocean region.

Trump and Frederiksen could also work with Greenland’s government to facilitate concrete plans by U.S. companies to explore the island’s purported vast mineral wealth. Greenland is currently supported by annual subsidies from the Danish government. Expanding its economy would potentially reduce that expenditure while also giving America access to more rare earths and critical minerals outside of Chinese controls.

Deals like this are a classic win-win. Denmark can be seen as protecting its sovereignty while providing America with the defense arrangements it needs. Greenland gets protection and an improved economy. And Americans get access to weight loss drugs that could help them live healthier lives — and perhaps even reduce government health care expenses for diseases and conditions that a loss of weight would prevent.

Trump’s bull in the china shop approach to global diplomacy always annoys or angers people, but it can also wake our allies up to realities that they prefer to ignore. Now that Trump has Denmark’s attention and has leverage, he should use it to everyone’s benefit.