The United States should buy Greenland, and Europe should pay for it.

European leaders have rushed to denounce President Trump’s renewed interest in Greenland, insisting the Arctic territory is “not for sale.” French President Emmanuel Macron declared, “Greenland is not for sale, just as Antarctica or the high seas are not for sale.” German officials and others have echoed the same line. This rhetoric is meant to shut down debate, not resolve reality.

The United States is not proposing a symbolic land grab. The United States could pursue a lawful transaction that would settle outstanding European obligations while securing a vital national security asset.

During World War I, the United States financed the Allied war effort through massive Treasury loans authorized under the Liberty Loan Acts. These were not gifts. They were debts. In the 1920s, those obligations were formalized through bilateral funding agreements ratified by the U.S. Congress. No treaty or statute has ever canceled them.

The Hoover Moratorium of 1931 temporarily suspended payments. It did not forgive the debt. Under international law, sovereign debt does not expire simply because it is inconvenient to repay.

Belgium, France, and the United Kingdom all remain legally obligated. Belgium’s debt was codified in the 1925 Agreement for the........

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