Trump Appointee Thomas Dans Pitched Greenland Seizure for Red Lobster Shrimp Supply
Updated
Updated · The New Republic · Jun 22
Trump Appointee Thomas Dans Pitched Greenland Seizure for Red Lobster Shrimp Supply
3 articles · Updated · The New Republic · Jun 22
Summary
Thomas Dans, whom Trump named in December to chair the U.S. Arctic Research Commission, told The New Yorker Greenland should be taken so the U.S. could secure its seafood and revive Red Lobster’s all-you-can-eat shrimp.
Dans framed the idea as cutting out intermediaries and keeping Greenlandic seafood from China, undercutting the White House’s public argument that acquiring Greenland is mainly a national-security priority.
The Danish government has identified Dans as one of three Americans involved in private influence operations in Greenland; he also runs American Daybreak, a nonprofit promoting U.S. business abroad.
His role predates Trump’s return to office: Dans organized Donald Trump Jr.’s January 2025 Greenland trip, and backlash to later U.S. outreach helped push Greenland’s political parties to unite against perceived American aggression.