The United States has raised the prospect of using military force to take control of Greenland as leaders in Europe and Canada rallied behind the Arctic territory, saying the island belongs to its people.
In a statement on Tuesday, the White House said US President Donald Trump sees acquiring Greenland, which is part of Denmark, as a national security priority, necessary to “deter our adversaries in the Arctic region”.
“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,” it said.
Any attempt by the US to seize Greenland from NATO ally Denmark would send shockwaves through the alliance and deepen the divide between Trump and European leaders.
The opposition has not deterred Trump, however.
His interest in Greenland, initially aired in 2019 during his first term in office, has been rekindled following the US’s abduction of Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro in an attack on Caracas.
Emboldened by the operation, Trump has said “American dominance in the Western Hemisphere will never be questioned again”, and has stepped up pressure on both Colombia and Cuba. He has also argued that controlling Greenland is vital to US national security, claiming the island “is covered with Russian and Chinese ships” and that Denmark lacks the capacity to protect it.
Greenland, the world’s largest island, but with a population of just 57,000 people, has repeatedly said it does not want to be part of the US.
The island, strategically located between Europe and North America, hosts the US’s Pituffik Space Base, which supports missile warning and missile defence operations, while its mineral wealth aligns with Washington’s ambition to reduce reliance on Chinese exports.
Greenland ‘belongs to its people’
The White House statement on Tuesday came as leaders of France, Germany, Italy, Poland, Spain and the United Kingdom joined Danish Prime Minister Mette Frederiksen in issuing a statement reaffirming that Greenland “belongs to its people”.
“It is for Denmark and Greenland, and them only, to decide on matters concerning Denmark and Greenland,” they said.
Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney also voiced support, announcing that Governor General Mary Simon, who is of Inuit descent, and Minister of Foreign Affairs Anita Anand would visit Greenland early next month.
In a separate statement, Nordic foreign ministers – from Finland, Iceland, Norway, Sweden and Denmark – also stressed Greenland’s right to decide its own affairs. They also noted they had increased their investments in Arctic security, and offered to do more in consultation with the US and other NATO allies.
Polish Prime Minister Donald Tusk also warned that threats against a NATO member undermined the alliance’s credibility. “No member should attack or threaten another member of the North Atlantic Treaty Organisation. Otherwise, NATO would lose its meaning,” he said.
Greenland Prime Minister Jens-Frederik Nielsen welcomed the European leaders’ pledge of solidarity and renewed his call to the US for a “respectful dialogue”.
Denmark, meanwhile, rejected Trump’s assertion that it is unable to protect Greenland.
“We do not share this image that Greenland is plastered with Chinese investments… nor that there are Chinese warships up and down along Greenland,” Danish Minister for Foreign Affairs Lars Lokke Rasmussen said, adding that the US was welcome to invest more on the island.
Greenland’s government said it had asked for an urgent meeting with US Secretary of State Marco Rubio, together with Rasmussen, to discuss the situation.
Shift in US policy
Also on Tuesday, Louisiana Governor Jeff Landry, whom Trump appointed last month as US special envoy to Greenland, said he was not interested in talking to people in Denmark or European diplomats over Greenland.
Instead, he said he wants to have conversations directly with residents of Greenland. “I want to talk to people who want an opportunity to improve the quality of life in Greenland,” the Republican said on a Fox News radio show.
Separately, The Wall Street Journal reported that Rubio had told US lawmakers during a congressional briefing on Monday that the recent threats did not signal an imminent invasion of Greenland and that the goal is to buy the island from Denmark.
Rubio said the White House was using rhetoric to pressure Denmark into negotiations, the Journal reported, quoting people familiar with the discussions.
The White House deputy chief of staff, Stephen Miller, meanwhile dismissed concerns about Danish sovereignty in an interview with CNN.
“You can talk all you want about international niceties and everything else,” Miller said on Monday. “But we live in a world, in the real world, that is governed by strength, that is governed by force, that is governed by power.”
When asked about the prospect of military force, he replied: “Nobody’s going to fight the United States militarily over the future of Greenland.”
Members of Congress, including some of Trump’s fellow Republicans, pushed back.
“When Denmark and Greenland make it clear that Greenland is not for sale, the United States must honour its treaty obligations and respect the sovereignty and territorial integrity of the Kingdom of Denmark,” said Senators Jeanne Shaheen and Thom Tillis, the co-chairs of the Senate NATO Observer Group.
Analysts said a US takeover of Greenland would mark a profound transformation of Washington’s foreign policy.
“Our policy since the end of World War II has been that countries get to determine their own fate. Eighty-five percent of the people in Greenland do not want to be part of the United States. So it would upend that principle,” said Melinda Haring, a senior fellow at the Atlantic Council’s Eurasia Center.
“It would undermine the NATO alliance, and it would really make Donald Trump’s foreign policy completely incoherent,” she told Al Jazeera.
“I’m having a hard time describing what our policy would be other than returning to a world where might makes right. And that’s what we saw Stephen Miller talking about – that the world is about domination and power, and if Donald Trump wants something, he will take it.”
