Greenland is seeking a meeting with US Secretary of State Marco Rubio as the White House continues to escalate its rhetoric about taking over the island, including the possibility of military action.
The island’s foreign minister Vivian Motzfeldt said today in a Facebook post that Greenland had made the request along with Danish Foreign Minister Lars Rasmussen.
The White House earlier said it was “discussing a range of options” to acquire Greenland, noting that using the US military is not off the table.
People take part in a march ending in front of the US consulate, under the slogan, Greenland belongs to the Greenlandic people, in Nuuk, Greenland. (AP)”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 CNN.
“The President and his team are discussing a range of options to pursue this important foreign policy goal, and of course, utilising the US Military is always an option at the Commander in Chief’s disposal.”
The statement comes as Rubio told lawmakers this week that the Trump administration is considering buying Greenland as he downplayed concerns about US military intervention in the short term, according to a source familiar with the discussion.
At the request of Rubio’s team, the State Department in recent months provided an analysis of the untapped resources in Greenland, including rare earths, according to a source familiar with the analysis.
One conclusion was that there is no reliable study of how vast those resources may be.
The assessment also said there would be tremendous cost in accessing the resources given the cold temperatures and lack of infrastructure, the source said.
Earlier today, White House spokeswoman Anna Kelly told CNN that President Donald Trump “believes Greenland is a strategically important location that is critical from the standpoint of national security, and he is confident Greenlanders would be better served if protected by the United States from modern threats in the Arctic region.”
This week, senior White House aide Stephen Miller told CNN’s Jake Tapper that nobody would fight the US militarily “over the future of Greenland.”
“For the United States to secure the Arctic region to protect and defend NATO and NATO interests, obviously Greenland should be part of the United States, and that’s a conversation that we’re going to have as a country,” Miller said.
“That’s a process we’re going to have as a community of nations.”
Senior White House aide Stephen Miller said “obviously Greenland should be part of the United States”. (AP)
Do you think the US is justified in trying to annex Greenland?
He also questioned Denmark’s “right” to control the territory.
“What is the basis of their territorial claim? What is the basis of having Greenland as a colony of Denmark?” he said.
Other senior US lawmakers have also responded.
Democrat Senator Chris Murphy said he at first thought Trump’s vocal desire for Greenland had been a “distraction”, but no longer.
“I think you do have to take these threats more seriously,” he said.
“I think now you have to really think about what’s in the president’s brain.”
Republican Senator Rand Paul said he was open to Greenland joining the US, but criticised the stance of the White House.
“Ultimately, the people of Greenland would have to vote and potentially Denmark. I’m not sure who would have to vote,” he told reporters.
“But you won’t get there by insulting them.”
Greenland is a semi-autonomous territory of Denmark with its own elected government.President Donald Trump has repeatedly said the US needs to acquire Greenland. (AP)Greenland is the biggest island on Earth, but is incredibly sparsely populated. (Adobe Stock)
Senator Ruben Gallego, an Arizona Democrat, said he is introducing a resolution to prevent the US from invading Greenland.
“Trump is telling us exactly what he wants to do. We must stop him before he invades another country on a whim,” Gallego said in a post on X.
Republican Representative Don Bacon, who serves on the House Armed Services Committee, has urged the administration to “stop the stupid ‘we want Greenland BS'” and called on other Republicans to “universally oppose” any military action toward Greenland.
“This is appalling. Greenland is a NATO ally. We have a base on Greenland. We could put four or five bases on Greenland; they wouldn’t mind that,” Bacon told CNN’s Tapper today.
“They are a proven ally, so the way we are treating them is really demeaning, and it has no upside.”
Democratic Senator Jeanne Shaheen and Republican Senator Thom Tillis, the co-chairs of the bipartisan Senate NATO Observer Group, in a statement today reaffirmed the US’ long-standing partnership with Denmark, an ally they said has “earned our unwavering respect.”
They also highlighted how Denmark is “significantly increasing its defence spending and remains a critical partner in Arctic security.”
“Any suggestion that our nation would subject a fellow NATO ally to coercion or external pressure undermines the very principles of self-determination that our Alliance exists to defend,” the senators said.
The island, which is about the size of Western Australia, is in an important strategic location in the North Atlantic and is already home to a substantial number of US military personnel.
Greenland also has a vast amount of untapped mineral wealth. Climate change has made those underground minerals more accessible in recent years.
The autonomous territory has a population of about 57,000 people.
The leaders of Denmark and Greenland have consistently reiterated that they have no intention of allowing the US to take possession of the island.
Danish Prime Minister Mette Frederiksen said this week a US takeover would amount to the end of the NATO alliance, of which both Denmark and the US are members.
In a statement to the US last week, Frederiksen said under existing defence agreements, the US military already had broad access to the territory.
Trump has downplayed the significance of Greenland’s natural resources, telling reporters last month: “We need Greenland for national security, not for minerals.”
But his former national security adviser Mike Waltz suggested in January 2024 that Trump’s focus was on natural resources, telling Fox News that the administration’s focus on Greenland was “about critical minerals” and “natural resources.”
Greenland’s Prime Minister Jens-Frederik Nielsen said in a recent statement that Trump’s rhetoric was “completely unacceptable.”
Denmark’s Prime Minister Mette Frederiksen. (AP)Vice President JD Vance and Second Lady Usha Vance visiting Greenland. (Jim Watson/Getty Images via CNN Newsource)
“When the President of the United States speaks of ‘needing Greenland’ and links us to Venezuela and military intervention, it is not just wrong. It is disrespectful,” he said.
“No more fantasies of annexation.”
While the prospect of independence from Denmark plays a key part in Greenland’s political scene, becoming a territory of the US is less popular.
US Vice President JD Vance was greeted with protests when he visited the island’s US military base last year, while there was also a diplomatic spat with Denmark over Trump-linked US citizens alleged to have been conducting an influence campaign.
Polls cited by CNN also show that Americans aren’t too keen on the idea of annexation – forced, coerced, or otherwise.
A series of polls showed Americans opposed the US attempting to take the territory by large margins – 55 per cent to 28 per cent, 54 per cent to 23 per cent, and 73 per cent to 27 per cent.
Even when it came to merely pressuring Denmark to cede control – as opposed to something like a military invasion – Americans opposed that by 49 points in a March poll.
Just 8 per cent of Republicans “strongly” favoured getting Denmark to turn over Greenland in a January 2025 Reuters poll.
