A Danish petition to “buy California” from the U.S. is nearing 300,000 signatures.
The tongue-in-cheek petition was created in response to President Donald Trump’s repeated threats to purchase Greenland, a semiautonomous territory of Denmark.
Newsweek has contacted Denmark’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs for comment by email.
Why It Matters
While the petition may be a lighthearted attempt to get back at Trump for floating the idea of purchasing Greenland, despite the prime ministers of Greenland and Denmark both saying the territory is not for sale, it does signal the strength of feeling against Trump’s proposal.
Residents of the territory also signaled their discontent at Trump this month when they elected the Demokraatit party to govern in the most recent election. The party’s leader has described Trump as a “threat to our political independence.”
AP
What To Know
Around 270,000 people have signed the “Denmarkification” petition, titled “Let’s Buy California from Trump — Denmark’s Next Big Adventure.”
“Let’s buy California from Donald Trump! Yes, you heard that right. California could be ours, and we need your help to make it happen,” reads the petition, which aims to collect 500,000 signatures. The campaign says it seeks to crowdfund $1 trillion to purchase the U.S. state, which will bring “hygge (coziness) to Hollywood,” “bike lanes to Beverly Hills,” and “organic smørrebrød to every street corner.”
It also proposes renaming Disneyland to “Hans Christian Andersenland.” The text reads: “Mickey Mouse in a Viking helmet? Yes, please.”
The petition also humorously suggests that Trump might sell California to Denmark because “he isn’t exactly California’s biggest fan.” It notes that he has called it “the most ruined state in the Union” and has clashed with its leaders for years. The petition jokes that Trump would sell it “for the right price” and even offers a “lifetime supply of Danish pastries” to sweeten the deal. It sarcastically adds: “As for the will of the citizens? Well, let’s face it—when has that ever stopped him?”
Trump’s quarrels with the heavily Democratic state of California date back a long way. At a press conference during his election campaign in 2024, he claimed the Golden State was being destroyed by rampant crime, sweeping homelessness and unauthorized immigrants “The state of California is a mess,” he said.
Since beginning his second term, Trump has raised the prospect of the U.S. acquiring Greenland, home to a U.S. Space Force base, on multiple occasions. The Arctic island, with a population of about 56,000, holds significant geopolitical value due to its strategic location and abundant natural resources.
Speaking at a press conference on January 7, Trump said the U.S. needed the vast, resource-rich island for “national security purposes.”
Danish Prime Minister Mette Frederiksen pushed back against Trump’s suggestion in January, saying that “Greenland belongs to the Greenlanders.” Greenland’s then Prime Minister Múte Egede echoed that sentiment, adding that use of the island’s territory was “Greenland’s business,” and that the territory is “not for sale.”
But Trump is undeterred and he repeated intentions to annex the island during an Oval Office meeting with NATO secretary-general Mark Rutte last Thursday.
When a journalist asked whether he thought the U.S. would annex Greenland, Trump answered: “I think it’ll happen.”
Trump has also not ruled out the use of military force to seize the territory, which could trigger Article 4 of NATO’s founding treaty. The article can be invoked when any member of the military alliance deems the “territorial integrity, political independence or security” of any member state to be threatened.
A survey conducted by pollster Verian in January among 497 respondents found that 85 percent of Greenlanders do not want their island to become a part of the U.S. Only 6 percent of Greenlanders said they were in favor of becoming part of the U.S, with 9 percent undecided. The poll had a margin of error of between +/- 2.1 and 3.1 percentage points.
Following elections in Greenland this month, which the Demokraatit party won, the party’s leader Jens-Frederik Nielsen told Sky News: “We don’t want to be Americans. No, we don’t want to be Danes. We want to be Greenlanders, and we want our own independence in the future. And we want to build our own country by ourselves.”
Greenland’s outgoing prime minister, Egede, also spoke out against Trump, writing on social media: “Enough is enough. This time we need to toughen our rejection of Trump. People cannot continue to disrespect us. The American president has once again evoked the idea of annexing us. I absolutely cannot accept that.”
Nielsen’s Demokraatit party, which supports gradual independence from Denmark, won nearly 30 percent of the vote, compared to just 9 percent four years ago.
What People Are Saying
Greenland Prime Minister Egede told Reuters in December: “Greenland is ours. We are not for sale and will never be for sale. We must not lose our long struggle for freedom.”
Donald Trump said in his joint address to Congress: “We need Greenland for national security. One way or the other we’re gonna get it.”
What Happens Next
Trump is likely to continue raising the prospect of Greenland’s annexation. But Greenland’s Demokraatit party will now try to form a coalition government with other parties over the coming days, and the negotiations will almost certainly result in a government that opposes Greenland becoming an American territory.
