{"id":678946,"date":"2026-01-07T02:17:12","date_gmt":"2026-01-07T02:17:12","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/678946\/"},"modified":"2026-01-07T02:17:12","modified_gmt":"2026-01-07T02:17:12","slug":"us-says-using-military-is-among-options-to-acquire-greenland","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/678946\/","title":{"rendered":"US says using military is among \u2018options\u2019 to acquire Greenland"},"content":{"rendered":"

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The Trump administration is exploring options including \u201cutilising the US military\u201d to acquire Greenland, the White House said on Tuesday, marking an increase in US pressure to gain control of the semi-autonomous Danish territory.<\/p>\n

\u201cPresident [Donald] Trump has made it well known that acquiring Greenland<\/a> is a national security priority of the United States, and it\u2019s vital to deter our adversaries in the Arctic region,\u201d White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt said. <\/p>\n

\u201cThe 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\u2019s disposal.\u201d<\/p>\n

Leavitt\u2019s remarks come as senior Trump administration officials have expressed renewed interest in the Arctic territory, which is rich in natural resources.<\/p>\n

Denmark and the EU did not immediately respond to the White House statement.<\/p>\n

Trump<\/a> on Sunday evening said he could take action against a range of countries in the western hemisphere, including Colombia and Mexico, following the capture of Venezuelan President Nicol\u00e1s Maduro over the weekend.\u00a0<\/p>\n

He also reiterated his desire to acquire Greenland. \u201cWe need Greenland,\u201d he said. \u201cIt\u2019s so strategic.\u201d<\/p>\n

The US president\u2019s comments were echoed by his homeland security adviser Stephen Miller in an appearance on CNN on Monday. <\/p>\n

\u201cBy what right does Denmark assert control over Greenland?\u201d said Miller, who played a leading role in orchestrating the capture of Maduro<\/a>. \u201cNobody\u2019s going to fight the United States militarily over the future of Greenland.\u201d<\/p>\n

The latest round of pressure over Greenland has drawn a sharp rebuke from Danish officials. Prime Minister Mette Frederiksen warned that repeated US threats against Greenland could jeopardise the future of Nato. \u201cIf the United States attacks another Nato country, everything stops,\u201d she said on Monday. <\/p>\n

The leaders of France, Germany and the UK joined other top European politicians in a joint statement in support of Greenland on Tuesday.<\/p>\n

\u201cNato has made clear that the Arctic region is a priority and European Allies are stepping up,\u201d said the statement, also signed by Italy, Poland, Spain and Denmark. <\/p>\n

\u201cGreenland belongs to its people. It is for Denmark and Greenland, and them only, to decide on matters concerning Denmark and Greenland,\u201d it added.<\/p>\n

Top Republican lawmakers have dismissed the president\u2019s push to take over Greenland.<\/p>\n

\u201cI don\u2019t see military action being an option there,\u201d John Thune, the Senate\u2019s top Republican, told reporters on Tuesday. He added that a US military takeover of Greenland was \u201cnot something that anybody is contemplating seriously\u201d. <\/p>\n

Democratic senator Jeanne Shaheen and Republican Thom Tillis, co-chairs of the bipartisan Senate Nato Observer Group, said in a statement that \u201cthe United States must honour its treaty obligations and respect the sovereignty and territorial integrity of\u2009.\u2009.\u2009.\u2009Denmark\u201d. <\/p>\n

\u201cAny 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,\u201d the two senators said, following the White House comments.<\/p>\n

A Nato spokesperson referred to comments made by secretary-general Mark Rutte on Tuesday, in which he said Nato \u201ccollectively\u2009.\u2009.\u2009.\u2009has to make sure that the Arctic stays safe\u201d.<\/p>\n

Recommended<\/p>\n

\"Two<\/a><\/p>\n

\u201cWe all agree that the Russians and Chinese are more and more active in that area\u2009.\u2009.\u2009.\u2009the Danes are totally fine if the US would have a bigger presence [in Greenland] than they have now,\u201d Rutte told CNN.<\/p>\n

Under a 75-year-old defence agreement, the US already has the only military base in Greenland and local authorities in recent years have been open to it expanding its presence or opening a new one. <\/p>\n

But the US has reduced its presence on the Arctic island from a cold war peak of more than 10,000 soldiers to fewer than 200.<\/p>\n

Additional reporting by Lauren Fedor, Richard Milne and Henry Foy<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Unlock the White House Watch newsletter for free Your guide to what Trump\u2019s second term means for Washington,…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":678947,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[748,393,4884,12,1144,712,16,15,1764],"class_list":{"0":"post-678946","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-news","8":"tag-britain","9":"tag-england","10":"tag-great-britain","11":"tag-news","12":"tag-northern-ireland","13":"tag-scotland","14":"tag-uk","15":"tag-united-kingdom","16":"tag-wales"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@uk\/115851417635546031","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/678946","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=678946"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/678946\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/678947"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=678946"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=678946"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=678946"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}