White House Won't Rule Out Military Force to Take Greenland

The White House has said the use of military force is "always an option" in President Donald Trump's push to acquire Greenland, escalating a standoff with Denmark that has put the United States at odds with some of its closest NATO allies. A senior US official told Reuters that Trump aims to secure control of the strategically important and mineral-rich Arctic territory within the next three years, before his second term ends.

File photo: An aerial view of an ice-filled fjord in Greenland, the Arctic territory at the centre of the dispute.

The White House statement, released on Tuesday, described acquiring Greenland as a national security priority for the United States and said it was vital to deter American adversaries in the Arctic region. "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 statement said. "The president and his team are discussing a range of options to pursue this important foreign policy goal, and of course, utilising the US military is always an option at the commander-in-chief's disposal."

The blunt language marks a sharp escalation in a campaign Trump has pursued since his first term, when he first attempted to buy the island from Denmark.

What the White House Said

The senior US official, speaking to Reuters on condition of anonymity, said Trump was considering several paths to control of Greenland. The options include the United States purchasing the territory from Denmark, as Trump attempted to do during his first term, or forming a Compact of Free Association with Greenland, an arrangement that would stop short of making the island part of the United States.

"Diplomacy is always the president's first option with anything, and dealmaking. He loves deals, so if a good deal can be struck to acquire Greenland, that would definitely be his first instinct," the official said. But the official also made clear that the ambition is not going away. "It's not going away," the official said of the president's goal.

The statement came in the wake of the US military raid that captured Venezuelan leader Nicolas Maduro, an operation Trump has pointed to as he emphasises his desire to exert control over the American hemisphere, which includes Greenland.

Rubio Moves to Calm Allies

Even as the White House kept the military option on the table, Secretary of State Marco Rubio moved to reassure allies that no invasion was imminent. Rubio told members of Congress in a private briefing on Monday that the recent US threats to Greenland did not signal an imminent invasion and that the goal was to buy the island from Denmark, according to the Wall Street Journal.

French Foreign Minister Jean-Noel Barrot said on Wednesday that Rubio had assured him Washington was ruling out a military operation to seize Greenland. "He ruled out the possibility of what just happened in Venezuela happening in Greenland," Barrot told France Inter radio.

Barrot added that allies, including France and Germany, were working on a joint plan for how to respond should the United States try to take over Greenland. The mixed messages — a White House that will not rule out force, and a secretary of state telling allies no invasion is planned — have left Denmark and its European partners unsure which voice to trust.

Denmark and Europe Push Back

Denmark's response has been unusually blunt. Prime Minister Mette Frederiksen said on Monday that an American takeover of Greenland would amount to the end of the NATO military alliance. "If the United States chooses to attack another Nato country militarily, then everything stops," Frederiksen said. "That is, including our Nato and thus the security that has been provided since the end of the Second World War."

European leaders issued a joint statement on Tuesday warning Trump that he needs to respect the territorial integrity of Greenland and Denmark. The leaders stressed that Greenland falls under NATO's collective defence umbrella as part of the Kingdom of Denmark and that security in the Arctic must be achieved collectively with NATO allies.

Britain, France, Germany, Italy, Poland and Spain joined Denmark in saying they would defend the "universal principles" of "sovereignty, territorial integrity and the inviolability of borders." British Prime Minister Keir Starmer, following a meeting with Frederiksen at Ukraine talks in Paris, said: "Greenland and the Kingdom of Denmark are to decide the future of Greenland, and only Greenland and the Kingdom of Denmark."

A former British ambassador to the United States, Sir Kim Darroch, said on Tuesday that a US move on Greenland would mean "the collapse, the destruction of Nato."

Denmark and Greenland have requested a meeting with Rubio to discuss the US statement.

Why Trump Wants Greenland

Greenland is the world's largest island and a self-governing territory within the Kingdom of Denmark, which retains authority over its foreign, defence and security policy. Its location between North America and Europe, astride Arctic shipping routes and close to Russia, has made it strategically valuable for decades, and the United States already operates Pituffik Space Base in northern Greenland under a decades-old defence agreement with Denmark.

Trump and his allies argue that the island's importance has only grown as China and Russia expand their Arctic presence. Ezra Cohen, who served as under-secretary of defence for intelligence during the first Trump administration, said Chinese and Russian activity in and around Greenland was quickly increasing and poses a direct threat to US national security.

He said the president was right not to depend on European and NATO support to counter those threats. "The Europeans can barely secure mainland Europe," Cohen told BBC Radio 4's Today programme. "They are not even anywhere close to being capable of projecting power into and around Greenland to deny the Chinese and Russians access to this key geographic area."

Others in the administration have been equally blunt about the balance of power. Stephen Miller, the deputy chief of staff who was named White House chief of staff this week, said on Monday night that the reality of superpower politics meant the Europeans would not put up a fight for Greenland. "Nobody's going to fight the United States militarily over the future of Greenland," he told CNN's Jake Tapper. "We live in a world, in the real world, Jake, that is governed by strength, that is governed by force, that is governed by power."

Greenland's own leaders have repeatedly said the island is not for sale and that its future can be decided only by the Greenlandic people. Earlier this year, Trump appointed Louisiana Governor Jeff Landry as a special envoy to Greenland, a move that underlined how seriously the administration was taking the effort.

File photo: President Donald Trump. The White House says acquiring Greenland is a national security priority. (White House photo)

What This Means

The Greenland dispute has become one of the most serious tests of the NATO alliance in its history. The White House's refusal to rule out military force — against a fellow NATO ally, over a territory whose people have said they do not want to be bought or taken — has forced European governments to plan publicly for the possibility of an American action they would have to oppose.

For Trump, the timing is significant. The midterm elections this week delivered a sweeping defeat for his Republican Party, with Democrats winning control of both chambers of Congress. The president now faces greater obstacles to his domestic agenda when the new Congress takes its seats in January, and foreign policy — where a president is far less restrained — offers a stage where he can still act decisively.

File photo: Danish Prime Minister Mette Frederiksen, who has warned that a US attack on Greenland would mean the end of NATO. (Photo: NBC News)

What Happens Next

The immediate focus is the meeting Denmark and Greenland have requested with Rubio. That conversation will test whether the administration's reassurances carry weight in Copenhagen and Nuuk, or whether the White House statement has done lasting damage to trust between the allies.

Beyond that, the White House has given no timetable for any specific move, and the senior official's three-year window suggests the administration sees this as a project to be completed before Trump leaves office, not an imminent operation. But with military force explicitly still on the table, the issue will not fade.

European governments, meanwhile, are coordinating their response, and the joint statements from European leaders this week suggest a united front that did not exist when Trump first raised the idea in his first term. Whether that unity holds if the pressure intensifies is the question that will define the coming months.