US says using military is among ‘options’ to acquire Greenland

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The Trump administration is exploring options including “utilising the US military” to acquire Greenland, the White House said on Tuesday, marking an increase in US pressure to gain control of the semi-autonomous Danish territory.

“President [Donald] 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.

“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.”

Leavitt’s remarks come as senior Trump administration officials have expressed renewed interest in the Arctic territory, which is rich in natural resources.

Denmark and the EU did not immediately respond to the White House statement.

Trump 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 Nicolás Maduro over the weekend. 

He also reiterated his desire to acquire Greenland. “We need Greenland,” he said. “It’s so strategic.”

The US president’s comments were echoed by his homeland security adviser Stephen Miller in an appearance on CNN on Monday.

“By what right does Denmark assert control over Greenland?” said Miller, who played a leading role in orchestrating the capture of Maduro. “Nobody’s going to fight the United States militarily over the future of Greenland.”

French foreign minister Jean-Noël Barrot said on Wednesday that Marco Rubio, the US secretary of state, had told him that the prospect of a military operation in Greenland similar to that carried out in Venezuela should be “discarded”.

Speaking to radio station France Inter, Barrot added that France was nevertheless working with its European partners to prepare a response in the event of military action by the US and he would meet with his German and Polish counterparts on Wednesday.

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. “If the United States attacks another Nato country, everything stops,” she said on Monday.

The leaders of France, Germany and the UK joined other top European politicians in a joint statement in support of Greenland on Tuesday.

“Nato has made clear that the Arctic region is a priority and European Allies are stepping up,” said the statement, also signed by Italy, Poland, Spain and Denmark.

“Greenland belongs to its people. It is for Denmark and Greenland, and them only, to decide on matters concerning Denmark and Greenland,” it added.

Top Republican lawmakers have dismissed the president’s push to take over Greenland.

“I don’t see military action being an option there,” John Thune, the Senate’s top Republican, told reporters on Tuesday. He added that a US military takeover of Greenland was “not something that anybody is contemplating seriously”.

Democratic senator Jeanne Shaheen and Republican Thom Tillis, co-chairs of the bipartisan Senate Nato Observer Group, said in a statement that “the United States must honour its treaty obligations and respect the sovereignty and territorial integrity of . . . Denmark”.

“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 two senators said, following the White House comments.

A Nato spokesperson referred to comments made by secretary-general Mark Rutte on Tuesday, in which he said Nato “collectively . . . has to make sure that the Arctic stays safe”.

“We all agree that the Russians and Chinese are more and more active in that area . . . the Danes are totally fine if the US would have a bigger presence [in Greenland] than they have now,” Rutte told CNN.

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.

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.

Additional reporting by Lauren Fedor, Richard Milne, Henry Foy and Ian Johnston