Geopolitics and greed for profit This billionaire put the Greenland flea in Trump's ear
A billionaire puts an idea in President Trump's ear - and shortly afterwards invests himself. The case of Ronald Lauder shows how geopolitical visions can turn into profitable business deals and where the boundaries between friendship, influence and self-interest become blurred.
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- Billionaire Ronald Lauder gave Donald Trump the idea of buying Greenland - and later invested there himself.
- At the same time, Lauder is involved in raw materials projects, for example in Ukraine, while US politicians are targeting precisely these resources.
- The case illustrates how personal networks of the business elite can influence foreign policy decisions.
Sometimes geopolitical projects are not developed in think tanks, but among friends. This is how John Bolton, once Donald Trump's national security adviser, described it to theGuardian: it was a "prominent businessman" who first suggested to the president that the US should buy Greenland. That was during Trump's first term in office and the man was Ronald Lauder - heir to a cosmetics empire, billionaire - and a friend of Donald Trump.
Lauder and Trump have known each other since the 1960s, when they both attended the same prestigious business school. After Trump's first election victory in 2016, he supported the president financially and publicly defended him when Trump's mental health was called into question in 2018. Politically, Lauder advised the president on "complex diplomatic challenges", according to his own statements. Greenland is apparently one of them.
What began as a private intuition quickly became a serious option in the White House. Following Lauder's intervention, possibilities were examined to expand American influence in the Danish territory. Last February, shortly after Trump's return to the White House, Lauder vehemently defended him when the president publicly considered a military takeover of the world's largest island. "Trump's Greenland concept was never absurd - it was strategic," Lauder wrote in theNew York Post.
Trump's fixation on Greenland fits in with his leadership style, according to Bolton: ideas from his circle of friends become reasons of state.
Greenland policy with potential returns
It is striking how closely Lauder's political ideas are linked to his own business interests. While Trump was publicly considering buying, influencing or even annexing Greenland, Lauder was building up holdings on the island. Danish company registers show investments by a New York company with anonymous owners - one of the projects: the export of "luxury" spring water from the Arctic.
When a Danish newspaper reported in December that Lauder was one of the investors, it quoted a Greenlandic businessman involved in the project: "Lauder and his partners in the investor group have a very good understanding of and access to the luxury market," he said.
The investor group is also planning to extract hydropower from Greenland's largest lake for an aluminum smelter. Lauder himself openly stated that he had been working for years with Greenland's business and government representatives on "strategic investments". The fact that this strategy is becoming part of American foreign policy is remarkable to say the least.
Raw materials deal in Ukraine
The pattern is repeated elsewhere. In a leaked letter sent by the head of mining company TechMet to Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky in November 2023, Lauder was named as part of a consortium that wanted to exploit a lithium deposit in the war-torn country. At the same time, Trump publicly demanded access to mineral resources in the war-torn country. A corresponding agreement between Washington and Kiev finally paved the way for tenders.
Lauder explained at the time that he had not discussed the Ukrainian mineral resources with Trump personally, but had been discussing the issue "for many years with various players in the USA and Ukraine".
The first lithium project reportedly went to the same consortium. Neither Lauder nor the White House wanted to comment on this.
Lauder's obvious involvement in shaping US policy reinforces doubts about possible conflicts of interest during Trump's second term in office and the obvious enrichment of people close to him. Critics see this as a lesson in how power and capital merge in the inner circle - and how foreign policy becomes an opportunity for private business.
