The White House is standing by President Trump’s interest in Greenland, saying “all options” are on the table as the administration weighs a potential acquisition of the territory that’s controlled by Denmark.
“All options are always on the table for President Trump as he examines what’s in the best interest of the United States, but I will just say that the President’s first option always has been diplomacy,” White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt told reporters on Wednesday.
Her comments come amid growing alarm among administration critics about the muscularity of U.S. foreign policy following the military operation in Venezuela on Saturday that led to the arrest of the nation’s president, Nicolas Maduro.
Trump has repeatedly voiced support for the U.S. acquiring Greenland, dating back to his first term in 2019. Trump has said Greenland is vitally important to U.S. priorities in the Arctic, and expressed interest in the territory’s large amounts of rare earth minerals.
“Right now, Greenland is covered with Russian and Chinese ships all over the place,” Trump told reporters over the weekend. “We need Greenland from the standpoint of national security, and Denmark is not going to be able to do it.”
The president’s continued focus on Greenland is posing a test for trans-Atlantic relations.
In a joint statement released Tuesday, the leaders of seven European nations defended Greenland’s sovereignty, saying it “belongs to its people.”
“It is for Denmark and Greenland, and them only, to decide on matters concerning Denmark and Greenland,” read the statement from the leaders of Denmark, France, Germany, Italy, Poland, Spain and the U.K.
Several European leaders, including Danish Prime Minister Mette Frederiksen, have fervently pushed back on Trump’s comments, saying that an attack on Greenland by the U.S. military would jeopardize the NATO military alliance.
Trump addressed NATO tensions in a post on Truth Social on Wednesday morning, saying the U.S. “will always be there for NATO, even if they won’t be there for us.”
Leavitt told reporters on Wednesday that previous presidential administrations have also entertained making a play for Greenland, but when pressed on why the White House wouldn’t rule out using military force to take over the country, she pushed back.
“I know that past presidents and past leaders have often ruled things out. They’ve often been very open about ruling things in and basically broadcasting their foreign policy strategy to the rest of the world, not just to our allies, but most egregiously, to our adversaries. That’s not something this president does,” she said.
Speaking from Capitol Hill, Secretary of State Marco Rubio echoed Leavitt, telling reporters that Trump’s interest in Greenland has gone unchanged since his first administration. Rubio said military intervention was not a preference for the administration, but he did not rule it out.
“Every president retains the option,” Rubio said. “I’m not talking about Greenland. I’m just talking about globally.”
Among Republican leaders in Congress, discussion about military intervention in Greenland has been met with skepticism. House Speaker Mike Johnson, R-La., told reporters Wednesday that while the U.S. may see “geopolitical and strategic importance” in Greenland, “we’re not at war with Greenland. We have no intention — we have no reason to be at war with Greenland.”
“There’s a lot of thoughtful discussion to be had there, and that’s what we expect is going to happen,” he added. “So all this stuff about military action and all that, I don’t, I don’t think it’s, I don’t even think that’s a possibility. I don’t think anybody’s seriously considering that. And in the Congress, we’re certainly not.”
Democrats have broadly panned the notion of a military intervention against the island and its roughly 57,000 inhabitants. On Tuesday, Sen. Ruben Gallego, D-Ariz., said he intends to introduce a resolution to block Trump from “invading Greenland.”
“We must stop him before he invades another country on a whim,” Gallego wrote on social media.
