U.S. President Donald Trump has refused to rule out the use of military force to assert control over Greenland, another overture toward the strategic North Atlantic that is island likely to spark further anxiety among the Washington’s unsettled allies in Europe.
Why It Matters
The Republican has made clear his desire to bring Greenland, a self-governing Danish territory, under the U.S.’s wing, straining relations between the U.S. and NATO ally Denmark.
The inhospitable Arctic is being reshaped by climate change, new trade routes and fresh military footprints from Russia and China.
What To Know
“I don’t take anything off the table,” Trump told NBC News on Saturday, when probed on whether he would authorize the use of military force to take control of Greenland.
There is a “good possibility that we could do it without military force,” he said.
The remarks came a day after Vice President JD Vance visited Greenland in a scaled-back visit with his wife, Usha Vance, touring the U.S.’s Pituffik Space Base in the northwest of the island, hundreds of miles from Greenland’s capital, Nuuk.
While Vance said he did not believe “military force is ever going to be necessary,” the vice president said the White House thought it would “be able to cut a deal, Donald Trump-style, to ensure the security of this territory.”
The vast majority of the nations bracketing the Arctic are NATO members, boosted by Finland and Sweden stepping into the alliance after Russia launched its full-scale invasion of Ukraine in early 2022. But Moscow has reopened a number of its Cold War-era facilities in the Arctic, and Beijing, although not an Arctic state, has courted a greater presence in the region.
Trump has repeatedly said he believes U.S. control of Greenland is “an absolute necessary” for national security.
Jim Townsend, a former deputy assistant secretary of defense for European and NATO policy at the Pentagon until 2017, told Newsweek last week that the alliance “would never recover” from a U.S. military operation in Greenland.
“It would be just a horrendous catastrophe for the trans-Atlantic relationship, or NATO or U.S. relations with Europe and the rest of the world,” he said. “It would hand a huge victory to Russia and to China.”
Trump said in early March that the White House “strongly” supported Greenland’s “right to determine your own future,” and the U.S. would “welcome” Greenland as a new state. Recent polling of Greenlanders indicates little appetite on the island for being absorbed into the U.S.
Vance took a pointed swipe at Denmark on Friday, accusing the government in Copenhagen of having not “done a good job at keeping Greenland safe.” Danish officials, including Prime Minister Mette Frederiksen, responded by pointing to its recent hikes in defense spending and fresh investment in the Arctic.
The Danish ambassador to Washington, Jesper Møller Sørensen, said in a post to social media that Copenhagen agreed that “we both could have done even more” for Arctic security, and both Greenland and Denmark wanted to bolster “already incredibly close ties” with the U.S.
Taking a more critical line, Denmark’s Foreign Minister, Lars Løkke Rasmussen, said in a video message to “our American friends” that while Copenhagen was “open to criticism,” “We do not appreciate the tone in which it is being delivered.”
“This is not how you speak to your close allies,” Rasmussen said.
Frederiksen’s office announced on Saturday that the prime minister would visit Greenland between April 2 and April 4 to “strengthen the bond” between Nuuk and Copenhagen.
Trump on Saturday shared a video to the Truth Social platform, focusing on the U.S.’ presence in Greenland during World War II and the battle against Nazi Germany, while saying Nuuk faced “new threats” in the 21st century from Russia and China.
Rasmussen said Greenland and Denmark were “open” to discussing a greater U.S. military presence on the island, referencing a 1951 defense agreement which he said offers “ample opportunity” for the U.S. to increase its military forces in Greenland.
At the end of World War II, the U.S. had 17 bases and “thousands of soldiers” in Greenland, Rasmussen said. This has now dropped to the singular Pituffik base and roughly 200 soldiers, the minister added. “We can do more, much more, within the framework we have today,” he said.
What People Are Saying
President Donald Trump told NBC News on Saturday: “We’ll get Greenland. Yeah, 100 percent.”
Vice President JD Vance said during a press conference in Greenland on Friday: “Our message to Denmark is very simple: You have not done a good job by the people of Greenland. You have underinvested in the people of Greenland and you have underinvested in the security of this incredible, beautiful landmass.”
What Happens Next
It is not clear how, or if, the U.S. administration will go about its mission to take control of Greenland, but it is unlikely to shift its attention away from the Arctic island.
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