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Military ‘always an option’, US says, after backlash against renewed Greenland threats
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Military ‘always an option’, US says, after backlash against renewed Greenland threats

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The White House said on Tuesday that US President Donald Trump is discussing options for acquiring Greenland, including the possible use of the US military, in a revival of his ambition to take control of the strategic island despite European objections.
Trump views the acquisition of Greenland as a U.S. national security priority necessary to “deter our adversaries in the Arctic,” the White House said in a statement.
“The President and his team are discussing a range of options to pursue this important foreign policy goal, and of course deploying the U.S. military is always an option available to the Commander in Chief,” the White House said.
Greenland has repeatedly said it does not want to be part of the US, and leaders of major European powers and Canada on Tuesday sided with the Arctic, saying it belongs to its people.

A US military operation last weekend that seized Venezuela’s leader has raised concerns that Greenland could face a similar scenario.

These fears have been fueled by Trump’s continued statements that he wants to gain control of Greenland, an idea first expressed in 2019 during his first presidency, arguing that it is critical to the US military and that Denmark has not done enough to protect it.

‘Greenland belongs to its people’

A joint statement issued by the leaders of France, the United Kingdom, Germany, Italy, Poland, Spain and Denmark – and backed by Canada and the Netherlands – said: “Greenland belongs to its people. It is up to Denmark and Greenland, and them alone, to decide on matters concerning Denmark and Greenland.”
The leaders said security in the Arctic must be achieved jointly with NATO allies, including the US.
“NATO has made clear that the Arctic is a priority and European allies are stepping up their efforts,” the statement said.

To fend off U.S. criticism of Greenland’s defense capabilities, Denmark last year pledged 42 billion Danish crowns ($9.76 billion) to boost its military presence in the Arctic.

Polish Prime Minister Donald Tusk told reporters in Warsaw: “No member may attack or threaten any other member of the North Atlantic Treaty Organization. Otherwise NATO would lose its significance…”
In a separate statement, Nordic foreign ministers – from Finland, Iceland, Norway, Sweden and Denmark – also emphasized Greenland’s right to decide its own affairs, while noting that they had increased their investments in Arctic security and offering to do more in consultation with the US and other NATO allies.

Greenland Prime Minister Jens-Frederik Nielsen welcomed European leaders’ solidarity pledge and renewed his call on the US for a “respectful dialogue”.

The real world is “ruled by violence,” Miller says

Asked whether he trusts Trump, Danish Foreign Minister Lars Lokke Rasmussen said the Nordic nation is confident in its membership of the NATO military alliance, of which it is a founding member along with the US and others.
Rasmussen rejected earlier statements by Trump that Denmark cannot protect Greenland.

“We do not share this view that Greenland is being plastered with Chinese investments… nor that Chinese warships are sailing back and forth past Greenland,” he said, adding that the US was welcome to invest more in the island.

White House Deputy Chief of Staff Stephen Miller recently dismissed concerns about Danish sovereignty.
“You can talk all you want about international niceties and everything else,” Miller told CNN on Monday. “But we live in a world, in the real world, that is ruled by force, that is ruled by force, that is ruled by power.”
The Greenland government said it had requested an urgent meeting with US Secretary of State Marco Rubio, together with the Danish Foreign Minister, to discuss the situation.

“Unfortunately, our requests for a meeting have been unsuccessful for a long time,” Greenland Foreign Minister Vivian Motzfeldt said in a Facebook post.

Trump’s Greenland envoy calls off military intervention

When asked about the Europeans’ joint statement on Tuesday, US special envoy Jeff Landry told CNBC: “Security should be a major concern for the United States.”
Asked whether security should be addressed in cooperation with NATO, he said: “I think we should ask the Greenlanders.”
Landry said Trump offered economic opportunities to Greenland, but he didn’t think the president would take them by force.

“I think the president supports an independent Greenland with economic ties and trade opportunities for the United States,” Landry said, adding that the U.S. had more to offer than Europe.

Miller said Monday that there was no need to think about the issue in the context of a military operation. “No one is going to fight the US militarily over the future of Greenland,” he told CNN in an interview.
Just hours after Saturday’s operation in Venezuela, Miller’s wife, Katie Miller, posted on X a map of Greenland painted with stars and stripes, accompanied by the text “COMING SOON.”
Greenland, the world’s largest island but with only 57,000 inhabitants, is not an independent member of NATO but falls under Denmark’s membership of the Western alliance.
The island’s strategic location between Europe and North America makes it a crucial location for the US ballistic missile defense system. The mineral wealth also fits in with the US ambition to reduce dependence on Chinese exports.

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