United States President Donald Trump has privately discussed with aides and advisers the idea of purchasing the island of Greenland as a way to expand US territory, two sources familiar with the situation said yesterday.

The notion of purchasing the icy, autonomous Danish territory between the North Atlantic and Arctic oceans has been laughed off by some advisers as a joke but taken more seriously by others, the sources said.

The idea of a Greenland purchase was first reported by the Wall Street Journal. President Harry Truman had offered to buy Greenland in 1946 for US$100 million.

Trump, who is on a working vacation at his golf club in Bedminster, New Jersey, is to make his first visit to Denmark early in September.

There has been no indication that a Greenland purchase will be on the agenda for his talks with Danish officials.

Thule Air Base in Greenland is the US military’s northernmost installation.

- Reuters