Washington — The White House said Tuesday officials are discussing a wide range of options for acquiring Greenland, including using the U.S. military to take it by force.
Senior administration officials are also discussing possibly acquiring Greenland from Denmark or forming a compact of free association, according to White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt. Reuters was first to report these developments.
“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,” Leavitt said. “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.”
President Trump wants the issue settled before the end of his term.
The Danish Embassy in Washington had no immediate comment.
Greenland, a semi-autonomous territory in the Kingdom of Denmark, has once again become a point of heated international discussion, after White House deputy chief of staff Stephen Miller told CNN on Monday it’s “the formal position of the U.S. government … that Greenland should be part of the United States,” and after Mr. Trump this weekend said the U.S. needs Greenland.
Denmark has long rebuffed the Trump administration’s interest in Greenland, reiterating that rebuke this week. Danish Prime Minister Mette Frederiksen said an American military move to seize control of Greenland would amount to the end of the NATO military alliance. Denmark is a NATO member, and NATO’s Article 5 states that if a NATO ally suffers an armed attack, all members will consider it an attack on them as well and do what they need to aid the attacked nation.
“If the United States chooses to attack another NATO country militarily, then everything stops,” Frederiksen told local media on Monday. “That is, including our NATO, and thus the security that has been provided since the end of the Second World War.”
Mr. Trump insists Greenland is critical from a national security standpoint, although the U.S. already operates a base there.
The Greenland debate comes after the U.S. military entered Venezuela and captured Nicolás Maduro, and as Mr. Trump says the U.S. will run the country for now.
