One sovereign nation purchasing land from another. This method of gaining territory had long been forgotten. But US President Donald Trump has revived it with Greenland. While everyone in Europe and elsewhere, perhaps by habit, has rejected the idea, I tend to ask myself: if they were capable, wouldn’t they want to do it too? Yet the shift in global power is now holding them back. History shows that the powerful have always traded lands. Now, amid a shifting global order, the concept is worth evaluating again. After all, which is better: acquiring land by war or by trade?

One sovereign nation purchasing land from another. This method of gaining territory had long been forgotten. But US President Donald Trump has revived it with Greenland. While…

For years, Beijing has struggled to gain a foothold in Greenland, in part because of US and Danish unity. Trump’s fraying of that alliance could create the opening it needs