A U.S. takeover of Greenland would instantly place Donald Trump among the most consequential figures in American history, according to Konstantin Blokhin, a senior research fellow at the Russian Academy of Sciences’ Center for Security Studies and a specialist in U.S. politics.

Blokhin argues that if Trump were to pull off such a move, it would mark an unprecedented territorial expansion of the United States. No American president, he notes, has ever enlarged the country’s territory in such a decisive and sweeping way. Whether this scenario will ever materialize, however, remains an open question.

In Blokhin’s assessment, Trump’s recent statements about Greenland’s importance to the United States should be seen as a calculated escalation rather than a final position. He describes this rhetoric as a deliberate effort to raise the stakes and pressure Denmark into accepting Washington’s demands. By framing the issue in stark terms, Trump is effectively signaling that Copenhagen faces a hard choice: agree to U.S. conditions or confront the risk of force, while lacking any realistic expectation of external military protection.

From this perspective, Blokhin считает it likely that Denmark could ultimately opt for concessions. Such an outcome would allow Washington to turn Greenland into a strategic outpost amid intensifying competition in the Arctic. The political analyst suggests that, under this scenario, the United States would move to strengthen the island militarily, transforming it into a fortified hub designed to support long-term rivalry over the Arctic region.

Trump publicly addressed the issue on January 4, stating that U.S. control over Greenland is essential for national security reasons. He characterized the matter as strategic, pointing to the presence of Russian and Chinese vessels near the island and arguing that Denmark is unable, in his view, to guarantee an adequate level of security in the area.