A Danish Navy vessel off the coast of Nuuk, March 8, 2025. A few days earlier, Donald Trump had told the US Congress that "one way or another, [they were] going to get" Greenland. ODD ANDERSEN/AFP
In the midst of his recent show of military force in Venezuela, US President Donald Trump has revived a long-standing question: and what if the Americans planted their flag in Greenland once and for all? "The president has made clear that acquiring [the Arctic island, an autonomous Danish territory] is a priority for US national security," said White House spokesperson Karoline Leavitt on Tuesday, January 6. "Mr. Trump and his team are currently discussing a range of options to achieve this important foreign policy objective, and, of course, the use of the US military is always an option," she added.
This statement once again demonstrated the US president's intent to challenge Denmark's sovereignty over the island of 56,000 inhabitants. On Tuesday, Secretary of State Marco Rubio told US lawmakers that Trump's preferred option was to buy Greenland from Denmark, ruling out an imminent invasion.
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After Venezuela, Greenland fears US annexation
