The prime minister of Greenland declared that the United States “will not get” the Atlantic island rich in natural resources.
According to President Donald Trump, annexing Denmark’s self-governing territory—a NATO ally of the United States—is necessary for national security.
“President Trump says that the United States ‘will get Greenland.’ Let me be clear: The United States will not get it. We do not belong to anyone else. We decide our own future,” Jens-Frederik Nielsen said in a Facebook post.
Vice President JD Vance, Second Lady Usha Vance, National Security Advisor Mike Waltz, and Utah Republican Sen. Mike Lee visited Pituffik Space Base, the Department of Defense’s northernmost military installation, in Greenland on Friday.
According to the Associated Press, Trump stated in a Saturday interview with NBC that using military force to acquire Greenland was a possibility.
“I think there’s a good possibility that we could do it without military force,” Trump said. “This is world peace, this is international security,” he said, but added: “I don’t take anything off the table.”
Trump has stated repeatedly since his first administration that he wants to secure Greenland for the United States as the Russian and Chinese presence in the Arctic increases, despite the Danish territory’s declaration that it is seeking independence from Copenhagen but is not interested in joining the United States.
Back in February, Secretary of State Marco Rubio spoke about Trump’s quest for the United States to purchase Greenland.
Megyn Kelly asked Rubio: “How does Greenland fit into all of this?”
“Well, the Arctic, which has gotten very little attention, but the Arctic circle and the Arctic region is going to become critical for shipping lanes. For how do you get some of this energy that’s going to be produced under President Trump? These energies rely on shipping lanes. The Arctic has some of the most valuable shipping lanes in the world. As some of the ice is melting, there’s become more and more navigable. We need to be able to defend that,” Rubio began.
“So if you project what the Chinese have done, it is just a matter of time before — because they are not an Arctic power. They do not have an Arctic presence. So they need to be able to have somewhere that they can stage from. And it is completely realistic to believe that the Chinese will eventually, maybe in the short-term, try to do in Greenland what they have done at the Panama Canal and in other places. And that is install facilities that give them access to the Arctic with the cover of a Chinese company, but that in reality serve a dual purpose,” he added.
Rubio continued, “That in a moment of conflict, they could send naval vessels to that facility and operate from there. And that is completely unacceptable to the national security of the world and to the security of the world and the national security of the United States. So the question becomes, if the Chinese begin to threaten Greenland, do we really trust that that is not a place where those deals are going to be made? Do we really trust that that is not a place where they would not intervene, maybe by force?”
“I think that’s been the president’s point. And that is that Denmark can’t stop them. They would rely on the United States to do so. And so his point is, if the United States is on the hook to provide — as we are now, we have a defense agreement with them — to protect Greenland if it comes under assault, if we’re already on the hook for having to do that, then we might as well have more control over what happens there. And so I know it’s a delicate topic for Denmark, but it’s, again, a national interest item for the United States,” Rubio said.
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