President Donald Trump is considering “a range of options” to acquire Greenland including the use of military force, the White House said Tuesday.
– 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.
– “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.”
– Trump has repeatedly asserted his view that the U.S. has the prerogative to do whatever it deems necessary to advance its security and economic interests across the Western Hemisphere, threatening specific actions against Colombia, Cuba, Mexico and Greenland.
– The president’s comments about Greenland in particular have sparked panic across Scandinavia and the rest of Europe given the potential implications for a continent already scrambling to shore up its defense against Russia.
– Trump has said that acquiring Greenland, an icy land mass between the Arctic Ocean and the North Atlantic, is a national security imperative.
– Denmark has communicated its openness to a heightened U.S. military presence there, but the president has appeared uninterested in anything less than a full U.S. takeover.
– The leaders of Denmark, Great Britain, France, Germany, Italy, Spain and Poland declared a shared belief that “security in the Arctic must be … achieved collectively, in conjunction with NATO allies including the United States by upholding the principles of the UN Charter, including sovereignty, territorial integrity and inviolability of borders.”
– Allies including France and Germany are working closely on a plan on how to respond should the United States act on its threat to take over Greenland, as Europe seeks to address U.S. President Donald Trump’s ambitions in the region.
– French Foreign Minister Jean-Noel Barrot said the subject would be raised at a meeting with the foreign ministers of Germany and Poland later in the day.
– “We want to take action, but we want to do so together with our European partners,” he said on France Inter radio.
– A German government source said separately that Germany was “closely working together with other European countries and Denmark on the next steps regarding Greenland”.
– Trump has repeatedly said Russian and Chinese vessels are stalking waters around Greenland, which Denmark disputes.
– “The image that’s being painted of Russian and Chinese ships right inside the Nuuk fjord and massive Chinese investments being made is not correct,” Rasmussen told reporters late on Tuesday.
https://www.politico.com/news/2026/01/06/trump-greenland-military-force-00713315