Trump appointee pitched Greenland as a way to refill Red Lobster’s shrimp

One of the Trump administration officials who went all-in on President Donald Trump's far-fetched scheme of taking over Greenland pitched it as a bizarre way to rescue the Red Lobster restaurants, the New Yorker reported on Monday.

Trump has been obsessed with the idea of the United States buying or possibly annexing Greenland, a territory of the Kingdom of Denmark, ever since his first term. It's an idea that dates back to the 19th century, as Greenland is rich in resources and strategically important for military operations — but neither Greenlanders nor Danes have ever supported handing over the territory.

Direct U.S. designs on owning Greenland faded since the mid-20th century, when Denmark became a U.S. partner in the NATO alliance and military access to the island was secured.

But Tom Dans, the Trump-appointed director of the United States Arctic Research Commission, has a much stranger pitch for why the U.S. needs control of Greenland.

"When I met him for lunch in Washington, earlier this year, he declined to speak further on the record, except to articulate a narrow, symbiotic vision for the future," reported Ben Taub. Specifically, Dans suggested, “My view is that the United States could take all the seafood Greenland could produce, and cut out the middleman, and keep it from China, and you could bring back all-you-can-eat shrimp at Red Lobster.”

The Red Lobster restaurant chain is a famous fixture of middle-class suburban communities, and its "endless shrimp" deal was once famous for causing stampedes of customers.

The chain went bankrupt in 2024 amid a crushing load of problems, including predatory private equity practices and an international shrimp supplier that held it hostage — though it ultimately survived after a brutal restructuring.