The Trump administration has doubled down on seizing Greenland, with the White House actively discussing using the U.S. military to stake a claim to the self-ruling island.
Days after capturing Venezuelan dictator Nicolas Maduro, President Donald Trump and his team escalated their threats about acquiring Greenland on Tuesday, merely hours after America’s European allies told them to butt out.
“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,” the White House said in a statement to Reuters.
“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.”
The comments are emblematic of Trump’s heightened desire to assert America’s dominance in the Western Hemisphere.
“American dominance in the Western Hemisphere will never be questioned again,” the president said on Saturday as he announced that the U.S. would “run” Venezuela and allow American companies to extract its oil.
Some of the options reportedly under consideration include purchasing Greenland outright or entering into a Compact of Free Association with the territory. However, the latter would stop short of Trump’s ambition to make Greenland part of the U.S.
But using the military to annex Greenland would be highly controversial because the island is a self-governing democratic territory of Denmark, which is a U.S. ally.
Unlike Venezuela, it is also a fellow NATO member, and military action would therefore be a gross violation of international law and state sovereignty.
In a statement issued on Tuesday morning, European leaders - including UK Prime Minister Keir Starmer, French President Emmanuel Macron, and German Chancellor Friedrich Merz - rallied around Denmark and Greenland, effectively warning the U.S. against military action.
“Greenland belongs to its people. It is for Denmark and Greenland, and them only, to decide on matters concerning Denmark and Greenland,” the leaders said, in a stinging rebuke.
Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney, who met with Danish Prime Minister Mette Frederiksen on Tuesday, also weighed in, telling reporters: “The future of Greenland is a decision exclusively for the people of Greenland and Denmark.”
However, the administration has become increasingly emboldened since it captured Maduro over the weekend, arguing that the Western Hemisphere should not be the base of operation for adversaries and rivals such as Russia or China.
Immediately after the military operation in Venezuela, Miller’s wife posted a photo of a map of Greenland covered with an American flag on her X account with the caption “SOON.”
Grilled about the CNN post on Monday night, Stephen Miller said Trump had made it clear he wanted to take over the running of Greenland since his first term. He also declared that no one would oppose the U.S. militarily staking a claim to it.
“The United States is the power of NATO,” Miller said. “For the United States to secure the Arctic region, to protect and defend NATO and NATO interests, obviously, Greenland should be part of the United States.
But Greenland is not the only place Trump has aimed at in recent days.
On Sunday, he also threatened Colombia, which Trump said was run by “a sick man,” President Gustavo Petro, “who likes making cocaine and selling it to the United States.”
Asked whether that meant we could see U.S. military operations in Colombia, Trump replied: “That sounds good to me.”
Trump also raised the prospects of an attack on Iran, whose regime is currently facing a wave of protests, and even posed on Air Force One holding a “Make Iran Great Again” cap.
He also warned Mexico to “get their act together,” otherwise “we’re going to have to do something” and said the U.S. would be prepared to strike Venezuela again, “if they don’t behave.”
