US President Donald Trump has been discussing “a range of options” to acquire Greenland, including the possible use of military force, the White House has confirmed.
In a statement to the BBC, the White House said that acquiring Greenland — a semi-autonomous territory of NATO ally Denmark — was considered a “national security priority” for the United States.
The remarks came just hours after several European leaders issued a joint statement expressing support for Denmark, which has been firmly resisting President Trump’s ambitions regarding the Arctic island.
Over the weekend, Trump reiterated that the US “needed” Greenland for security reasons, prompting Danish Prime Minister Mette Frederiksen to warn that any American attack on Greenland would effectively mark the end of NATO.
The White House said 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 US military is always an option at the Commander-in-Chief’s disposal.”
NATO is a transatlantic military alliance under which member states are committed to defending one another in the event of external aggression.
On Tuesday, six European allies publicly expressed their support for Denmark.
“Greenland belongs to its people, and only Denmark and Greenland can decide on matters concerning their relations,” said the leaders of the UK, France, Germany, Italy, Poland, Spain, and Denmark in a joint statement.
While stressing that they share US concerns about Arctic security, the European leaders said this objective must be pursued collectively by NATO allies, including the United States.
They also emphasized the need to uphold “the principles of the UN Charter, including sovereignty, territorial integrity and the inviolability of borders.”
Greenland’s Prime Minister Jens-Frederik Nielsen welcomed the statement and called for “respectful dialogue.”
“The dialogue must take place with respect for the fact that Greenland’s status is rooted in international law and the principle of territorial integrity,” Nielsen said.
Renewed debate over Greenland’s future has emerged in the aftermath of the recent US military intervention in Venezuela, during which elite American forces seized President Nicolás Maduro and transported him to New York to face drug and weapons charges.
One day after that operation, Katie Miller — the wife of one of Trump’s senior advisers — posted an image of Greenland colored as the US flag on social media, alongside the word “SOON.”
On Monday, her husband, Stephen Miller, stated that it was “the formal position of the US government that Greenland should be part of the US.”
When repeatedly asked in a CNN interview whether the United States would rule out using force to annex Greenland, Miller responded: “Nobody’s going to fight the US over the future of Greenland.”
A senior US official, speaking anonymously to Reuters, said American options included outright purchase of Greenland or the establishment of a Compact of Free Association with the territory.
In response, a US State Department spokesperson told the BBC on Tuesday that Washington was “eager to build lasting commercial relationships that benefit Americans and the people of Greenland.”
“Our common adversaries have been increasingly active in the Arctic. That is a concern that the United States, the Kingdom of Denmark, and NATO allies share,” the spokesperson said.
US Secretary of State Marco Rubio also told lawmakers during a classified briefing on Capitol Hill on Monday that the Trump administration did not plan to invade Greenland, though he did raise the possibility of purchasing it from Denmark, according to the Wall Street Journal.
Greenland and Denmark have said they requested an urgent meeting with Rubio to discuss the American claims over the island.
Denmark’s Foreign Minister Lars Løkke Rasmussen said a discussion with America’s top diplomat should help resolve “certain misunderstandings.”
Republican Senator Eric Schmitt of Missouri emphasized the national security dimension in comments to the BBC on Tuesday.
“I think they’re just in talks right now,” he said. “My hope is that Europe would understand that a strong America is good — it’s good for Western civilization.”
Trump first raised the idea of acquiring Greenland as a strategic Arctic hub during his initial presidential term, remarking in 2019: “Essentially it’s a large real estate deal.”
Interest in Greenland has grown as Russia and China increase their activity in the Arctic, while melting ice opens the possibility of new trade routes and access to untapped rare earth resources.
In March, Trump said the United States would “go as far as we have to go” to gain control of the territory.
During a congressional hearing last summer, Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth was asked whether the Pentagon had plans to seize Greenland by force if necessary. He replied that the military “has plans for any contingency.”
Greenland, home to approximately 57,000 people, has exercised extensive self-rule since 1979, although defense and foreign policy remain under Danish authority.
While many Greenlanders support eventual independence from Denmark, opinion polls consistently show overwhelming opposition to becoming part of the United States, which already maintains a military base on the island.
Morgan Angaju, a 27-year-old Inuit resident of Ilulissat in western Greenland, told the BBC that it had been “terrifying to listen to the leader of the free world laughing at Denmark and Greenland and talking about us as if we’re something to be claimed.”
“We are already claimed by the Greenlandic people. Kalaallit Nunaat means the land of the Greenlandic people,” he said.
Angaju added that he feared what might come next, questioning whether Greenland’s prime minister could face the same fate as Maduro, or whether the US might even “invade our country.”