Tom Dans, whom Trump appointed as the chair of the U.S. Arctic Research Commission in December of last year, made the eyebrow-raising suggestion in an interview with The New Yorker’s Ben Taub published last week.

According to Taub, Dans declined to speak on the record about Trump’s fixation on seizing Greenland for the U.S., but nonetheless offered “a narrow, symbiotic vision” as to why such an acquisition was a good idea.

“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,” Dans said.

Dans’ remark was included in a larger June 15 exposé titled “Inside the Ludicrous, Deadly Serious Plan to Take Over Greenland,” in which Taub points out that while Trump hasn’t spoken publicly about his plan for acquiring Greenland ― currently a semiautonomous Danish territory ― as of late, it hasn’t gone away.

Red Lobster, which filed for bankruptcy in 2024, confirmed this month it was shuttering its Times Square restaurant in New York.

Craig T Fruchtman via Getty Images

In an interview with NPR discussing his article, Taub said Dans “spent the weeks following the [2024] election pushing his Greenland agenda in conversations with people who were on the transition team until it eventually became one of Trump’s central fixations.”

Dans’ claim about Red Lobster comes at a bit of an inflection point for the Orlando, Florida-based restaurant chain, which closed 129 of its locations across the U.S. after a May 2024 bankruptcy filing. Earlier this month, Red Lobster confirmed it was shuttering its Times Square restaurant in New York after 23 years of operation.

As for Dans’ allusion to “all-you-can-eat shrimp,” he appeared to be referencing Red Lobster’s “Endless Shrimp” offer, cited by numerous outlets as having contributed significantly to the company’s financial losses before it was discontinued in 2023. In April, Red Lobster brought back a revised version of the offer for a limited time due to fan requests.

While Trump himself has been seemingly focused on other foreign policy concerns, including the Iran war, Secretary of State Marco Rubio has drawn criticism for flippantly alluding to the president’s long-held plan to acquire Greenland ― and his refusal to rule out using U.S. military pressure to achieve it ― earlier this month.

When Rep. Sarah McBride (D-Del.) asked Rubio if he was “aware that Greenland is indeed part of Denmark” as he testified in front of the House Foreign Affairs Committee, he replied: “For now.”