The President of the United States, Donald Trump, is evaluating different paths to annex Greenland, and resorting to the Armed Forces is “always an option”, the White House said on Tuesday, 6.
According to a statement from press secretary Karoline Leavitt, the president “made it clear that acquiring Greenland is a priority for the national security of the United States and that it is vital to deter our adversaries in the Arctic region”, in reference to the semi-autonomous territory belonging to the Crown of Denmark.
“The president and his team are debating various options for achieving this important foreign policy objective, and clearly, turning to the United States Army is always an option available to the commander in chief,” he added.
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Last weekend, after the United States invaded Venezuela and arrested dictator Nicolás Maduro, Trump spoke again about his desire to annex Greenland to the USA. The island has attracted the Republican since his first term due to the strategic position that the territory has in the Arctic, in addition to the reserve of rare earths and sources of natural resources, such as ore.
In an interview with the magazine The Atlantic on Sunday, 4, Trump said he “needs Greenland” to strengthen the American defense system, after being asked whether the entry of American troops into Venezuela would imply a greater willingness on the part of the United States to carry out military interventions in Greenland. “We need Greenland, for sure. We need it for defense,” said the Republican at the time.
On Monday, the 5th, the Danish Prime Minister, Mette Frederiksen, refuted Trump’s statements and said that a seizure of power by the United States in Greenland would be equivalent to “the end of the military alliance of the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO)”, a military alliance of which the island is part.
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“If the United States chooses to militarily attack another NATO country, everything stops,” Mette told Danish broadcaster TV2 on Monday.
Greenland’s Prime Minister Jens Frederik Nielsen also criticized the Republican’s comments. He was followed by European leaders, who expressed solidarity with Nielsen and Mette as they defended the Arctic island’s sovereignty.
“It is up to Denmark and Greenland, and only them, to decide on matters that concern Denmark and Greenland,” the countries said in a statement signed jointly by France, Germany, Italy, Poland, Spain and the United Kingdom.
Provocation
On Saturday, when Nicolás Maduro arrived in the United States to answer accusations of involvement in drug trafficking, Katie Miller, wife of Stephen Miller, White House chief of staff, reignited the discussion around the Arctic island.
On X (formerly Twitter), she published an illustrative image that shows Greenland painted in the colors of the United States, and wrote in the post the word “Soon”, which means “soon” in English.
The publication provoked reactions from Greenlandic and Danish authorities. Jesper Moller Sorensen, Denmark’s ambassador to the United States, responded to Katie Miller’s post by saying that the United States and Denmark are “close allies” and that the countries must “continue to work together” to ensure greater security in the Arctic.
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“The Kingdom of Denmark has significantly increased its security efforts in the Arctic – in 2025 alone, we have committed $13.7 billion that can be used in the Arctic and North Atlantic. Because we take our joint security seriously,” said Sorensen. “And yes, we expect full respect for the territorial integrity of the Kingdom of Denmark.”
Greenland’s Prime Minister, Jens Frederik Nielsen, also rebutted Katie Miller’s publication and classified the photo as “disrespectful”.
“The image shared by Katie Miller, which depicts Greenland draped in an American flag, changes absolutely nothing. Our country is not for sale and our future is not decided by social media posts,” said Frederik, who concluded: “There is no need to panic. But there is a good reason to speak out against disrespect.”
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The Prime Minister of Denmark, Mette Frederiksen, in turn, wrote on her social networks that “it makes absolutely no sense to talk about the United States taking over Greenland”, and reinforced that, as part of NATO, the country “is covered by the alliance’s security guarantee”.
“I strongly urge the United States to cease threats against a close historical ally and against another country and people that have clearly declared that they are not for sale,” he added.
Diplomatic tension
Diplomatic relations between the United States and Copenhagen have dragged on under strain over the past year, the first of Trump’s second term. The Republican has never hidden his interest in the Arctic island. During his first visit to the White House, he even said that he would pay to have the island under his control. But in this new, second term, he has already said that he would use military force to take over space.
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In March, Vice President JD Vance visited a remote US military base in Greenland and accused Denmark of underinvesting in the island. In August, Danish authorities summoned the top US diplomat to Copenhagen after a report found that at least three people connected to Trump carried out covert and espionage operations in Greenland.
At the end of December, Donald Trump once again caused discomfort in diplomatic relations between the White House and the government of Denmark by appointing the governor of Lousiana, Jeff Landry, as the United States’ special envoy for Greenland. At the time, Danish and Greenlandic leaders demanded respect for the integrity of the autonomous territory.
