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Secretary of State Marco Rubio has informed lawmakers in Washington that the Trump administration is seeking to purchase the country of Greenland.
Greenland is an autonomous territory of the Kingdom of Denmark, which is a NATO member state, making it an ally of the U.S. Both Greenland’s leaders and those in Denmark say the country is not for sale.
Nevertheless, President Donald Trump, who has long expressed a desire to incorporate Greenland into the United States, renewed a push for the island country following his military attack on Venezuela.
Rubio met with members of Congress on Monday to debrief them on the U.S.’s attack on Venezuela, which included the kidnapping of President Nicolas Maduro. When a lawmaker reportedly asked about Trump’s comments on Greenland, Rubio responded that the administration was seeking to buy the country.
No other details on Greenland were given, The New York Times reported.
However, the White House has indicated that the administration may be willing to use force to obtain the country.
“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,” Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt said in a statement on Tuesday. “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 from Leavitt come as others in the White House are asserting greater imperialistic aims, including Trump aide Stephen Miller.
“The U.S. is using its military to secure our interests unapologetically in our hemisphere,” Miller said in a recent interview discussing the attack in Venezuela and other potential targets of the administration. “We’re a superpower, and under President Trump, we are going to conduct ourselves as a superpower.”
In response to the administration’s imperialist commentaries, leaders from six NATO nations joined with Denmark and Greenland to issue a joint statement condemning threats to the country.
NATO has made clear that the Arctic region is a priority…Security in the Arctic must therefore 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 the inviolability of borders. These are universal principles, and we will not stop defending them.
“Greenland belongs to its people. It is for Denmark and Greenland, and them only, to decide on matters concerning Denmark and Greenland,” the nations’ leaders added.
Greenland Prime Minister Jens-Frederik Nielsen also issued a statement blasting the Trump administration.
“That’s enough now,” Nielsen said. “No more pressure. No more insinuations. No more fantasies of annexation.”
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