White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt once again refused to rule out US military action against Greenland on Wednesday – although, she added,US President Donald Trump will first attempt to gain control of the mineral-rich Arctic territory through diplomatic means.
Trump has threatened to annex Greenland, which is an autonomous territory of Denmark, on numerous occasions since being re-elected. However, these threats carry new weight since the US strike on Caracas which saw the “capture” of Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro on Saturday.
“He views it in the best interest of the United States to deter Russian and Chinese aggression in the Arctic region. And so that’s why his team is currently talking about what a potential purchase would look like,” Leavitt told reporters on Wednesday, as per AFP.
Denmark seems unlikely to be receptive to offers. Danish Prime Minister Mette Fredriksen said on Monday that she had made Denmark’s position clear.
“Greenland has repeatedly said that it does not want to be part of the United States. If the United States attacks another NATO country, everything stops,” she added.
Greenland’s Prime Minister, likewise, warned against military aggression. “That’s enough now. No more pressure. No more insinuations. No more fantasies of annexation,” Jens-Frederik Nielsen said.
In a joint statement released on Tuesday, newly rattled European leaders expressed their support for Greenland and Denmark’s sovereignty over their own affairs.
Also on Wednesday, US Secretary of State Marco Rubio agreed to Denmark and Greenland’s request for a meeting to discuss Trump’s comments, telling reporters that he would meet with their representatives next week. “We’ll have those conversations then,” he said.
Trump’s attitude towards NATO remains ambivalent at best, however. “We will always be there for NATO, even if they won’t be there for us,” he wrote on Truth Social on Wednesday – adding that Russia and China have “zero fear” of the transatlantic alliance excepting the US.
“I single-handedly ENDED 8 WARS, and Norway, a NATO Member, foolishly chose not to give me the Noble (sic) Peace Prize,” he said – once again failing to provide a list of the wars in question.
The Norwegian Nobel Committee is elected by the Norwegian parliament every six years, as stipulated by the will of Alfred Nobel, the Swedish industrialist who gave the prize his name. It is the committee and not the Norwegian government that chooses each year’s winner.
Exiled Venezuelan opposition leader Maria Machado received the 2025 prize. Trump declined to support her after toppling Maduro’s government by force on Saturday.