The Cosmetics Billionaire Fueling Trump’s Greenland Obsession

The Cosmetics Billionaire the Cosmetics Billionaire’s influence on Donald Trump’s language regarding Greenland has escalated into something resembling obsession. When asked this week whether the United States might use force to take control of the vast Arctic territory, the president replied with a terse “no comment”. He has previously promised that America would acquire the world’s largest island “the nice way or the more difficult way”.

Cosmetics Billionaire Fueling Trump

Greenland, a semi autonomous territory within the Kingdom of Denmark, has become central to Trump’s worldview. He argues the US must “own” the island to counter growing security threats from Russia and China, a position that risks destabilising not only US Danish relations but the wider post war settlement between Europe and Washington.

As tensions over the island intensify, attention has returned to one of Trump’s longest and most influential friendships, that with Ronald Lauder, the cosmetics billionaire and heir to the Estée Lauder fortune.

According to John Bolton, it was Lauder who first planted the idea of buying Greenland in Trump’s mind during his first term. Bolton recalls being summoned to the Oval Office in late 2018, where Trump said that a “very prominent businessman” had suggested purchasing Greenland. Bolton soon learned that the businessman in question was Lauder, a long time acquaintance of Trump from New York society.

Bolton did not dismiss the concept outright. Greenland has long been a strategic concern for US defence planners, particularly in the context of Arctic security. After the conversation, Bolton instructed the National Security Council to carry out extensive research into Greenland’s history and the scope of US options. Under agreements signed after the Second World War, the US already has broad rights to operate military bases on the island.

Strategic interest in Greenland has only grown. Melting ice caps are opening new shipping routes, while the territory’s reserves of fossil fuels, minerals and rare earth elements have become increasingly valuable. These materials are critical for everything from smartphones to advanced weapons systems.

Although US attempts to buy Greenland date back centuries, no previous president has pursued the idea with Trump’s directness. Trump himself insists the notion was his own. In interviews for the 2022 book The Divider by Peter Baker and Susan Glasser, he said he had long believed the island should belong to the US, describing its sheer size as justification enough.

Yet the same book reported that Lauder had offered to act as a back channel in any potential negotiations with Denmark. In August 2019, reports in the Wall Street Journal revealed Trump’s interest publicly for the first time. Denmark’s prime minister Mette Frederiksen dismissed the idea as absurd, prompting Trump to cancel a planned visit to Copenhagen and lash out personally at her. Soon afterwards, Bolton left the administration and the issue faded during the pandemic.

Now, years later, Greenland is firmly back on Trump’s agenda. Bolton has described the renewed focus as typical of Trump’s decision making, saying that ideas heard from friends often harden into fixed beliefs. With the rhetoric intensifying, scrutiny has returned to Lauder himself.

Born in February 1944, Lauder is the younger son of cosmetics founder Estée Lauder. After the death of his brother Leonard last year, he became the sole heir to a fortune estimated at $4.7bn. While Leonard ran the business, Ronald focused on philanthropy and political influence.

Lauder has known Trump since their student days at the Wharton School of the University of Pennsylvania in the 1960s. He donated to Trump’s first presidential campaign and Trump has spoken publicly of their decades long friendship. In 2017, Lauder defended Trump’s mental fitness after the publication of Michael Wolff’s Fire and Fury, praising him as intelligent and perceptive.

Despite their closeness, the two men are said to be very different personalities. Friends describe Lauder as reserved, courteous and deeply interested in culture, a stark contrast to Trump’s brash public persona.

Beyond Greenland, Lauder is known for his influence in Republican politics, art and Jewish affairs. He served in senior defence and diplomatic roles during the Reagan era, ran unsuccessfully for New York mayor, and helped push through reforms limiting mayoral terms. He founded the Neue Galerie in New York, home to Gustav Klimt’s Portrait of Adele Bloch Bauer, which he purchased in 2006 for a then record price.

Lauder has also been president of the World Jewish Congress since 2007 and has pledged millions to campaigns against antisemitism. In recent years, his political donations have again drawn attention. He reportedly gave $5m to Maga Inc last year and attended high value fundraising dinners for Trump.

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His business interests may also intersect with Trump’s ambitions. Danish media have reported that Lauder is among investors backing projects in Greenland, including plans to export spring water and generate hydroelectric power to support aluminium production. One reported partner is Vivian Motzfeldt’s husband, a connection that has raised alarm in Copenhagen amid fears Washington is trying to bypass Denmark and deal directly with Nuuk.

Lauder has described Trump’s Greenland vision as strategic rather than absurd, calling the island “America’s next frontier” because of its mineral wealth and emerging trade routes. Critics are unconvinced. Bolton argues the push is driven less by strategy than by Trump’s ego, warning that confrontational rhetoric has undermined more pragmatic options such as expanding US presence under existing treaties.

“I think Trump revealed his real motive when he said we need to own Greenland psychologically,” Bolton has said. “That is not how anyone else in America thinks about it. It is about him, and it is damaging Nato.”

Whether Lauder stands to benefit materially from any shift in Greenland’s status remains unclear. What is certain is that his long standing influence over Trump places him at the centre of a geopolitical storm. As relations between Europe and the US fray, many in allied capitals are asking whether a private conversation years ago helped set the world on a far more dangerous path.