The White House said on Tuesday that President Trump is weighing using the U.S. military to acquire the Danish territory of Greenland.
“President Trump has made it well known that acquiring Greenland is a national security priority of the United States, and it’s vital to deter our adversaries in the Arctic region,” White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt said in a statement to The Hill.
“The President and his team are discussing a range of options to pursue this important foreign policy goal, and of course, utilizing the U.S. Military is always an option at the Commander in Chief’s disposal,” she said.
Leavitt’s statement comes on the heels of a report by The Wall Street Journal that indicated Secretary of State Marco Rubio told congressional lawmakers during a closed-door briefing Monday that Trump’s goal is to buy the island from Denmark. The administration has once again increased its pressure on potentially obtaining the island following its capture of Venezuelan leader Nicolás Maduro.
Trump has touted taking over Greenland before, but the Venezuela operation has upped those sentiments.
“We need Greenland from the standpoint of national security, and Denmark is not going to be able to do it,” Trump told reporters on Sunday.
White House deputy chief of staff Stephen Miller echoed Trump’s remarks in an interview with CNN on Monday.
“The United States should have Greenland as part of the United States. There’s no need to even think or talk about this in the context that you’re asking, of a military operation,” Miller said. “Nobody’s going to fight the United States militarily over the future of Greenland.”
This is not the first time Trump has left open the door to using military force to acquire the territory.
“Something could happen with Greenland. I’ll be honest. We need that for national and international security,” Trump said in an interview with NBC’s “Meet the Press” last May. “I think it’s highly unlikely.”
“I don’t rule it out. I don’t say I’m going to do it, but I don’t rule out anything. No, not there,” the president added.
Trump’s remarks over the weekend have sparked concern and condemnation from a number of U.S. allies in Europe.
French President Emmanuel Macron, German Chancellor Friedrich Merz, Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni, Polish Prime Minister Donald Tusk, Spanish Prime Minister Pedro Sánchez, U.K. Prime Minister Keir Starmer and Danish Prime Minister Mette Frederiksen said in a joint statement that Greenland “belongs to its people.”
“It is for Denmark and Greenland, and them only, to decide on matters concerning Denmark and Greenland,” they urged.
Hakeem Jeffries taking seriously everything that Trump says
House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries, D-N.Y., told NewsNation people have to take everything Trump says seriously regarding any military plans for other countries because he’s “uncommitted to the rule of law.”
Jeffries told NewsNation the party will move legislatively to ensure no military aggression occurs against Venezuela or any other nation without explicit congressional approval. Asked if he takes Trump literally on Greenland, Jeffries replied, “Yes.”