Rubio to meet Danish officials on Greenland
Secretary of State Marco Rubio announced plans to meet with Danish officials next week to discuss Greenland's future, as European leaders respond to threats from the Trump administration regarding the island, a self-governing Danish territory.
Rubio’s comment to reporters Wednesday came after the Trump administration revived its push to acquire Greenland, apparently emboldened by the U.S. raid in Venezuela and capture of ousted president Nicolás Maduro, News.Az reports, citing foreign media.
Rubio told lawmakers this week that President Donald Trump plans to buy Greenland rather than invade it. Yet in an interview on Fox News on Wednesday, Vice President JD Vance again declined to rule out the use of military force.
In response to a question about what the United States would do to get Greenland, Vance said Trump was “willing to go as far as he has to” to “defend American interests.”
In the interview, Vance also echoed Trump, who has repeatedly said the island is vital for U.S. national security and that Denmark is not doing enough to protect it.In a show of solidarity with Greenland and Denmark, European leaders said in a statement Tuesday that Arctic security was a key priority and could be achieved only by upholding principles in the United Nations Charter of “sovereignty, territorial integrity and the inviolability of borders.”
Vivian Motzfeldt, Greenland’s foreign minister, said on Facebook on Tuesday that the governments of Denmark and Greenland had requested an urgent meeting with Rubio because of the “increasingly outspoken statements regarding Greenland.”
She said that a previous request for a meeting had gone unanswered. “It is important that all parties involved are given the opportunity to express their views directly and openly,” she wrote.
Naaja Nathanielsen, Greenland’s minister of business and natural resources, told DealBook on Wednesday that under U.S. pressure, the country felt like it was moving toward “a point of no return.” The Danish Foreign Ministry said that it could not immediately confirm whether a meeting with Rubio would take place.
Greenland is a sparsely populated, semiautonomous territory that falls under the sovereign boundaries of Denmark, a member of NATO.
Trump first said publicly that he wanted to buy Greenland in 2019, during his first term. After his reelection in 2024, the president suggested the United States could use force to acquire the island. High-profile visits from Trump administration officials followed. Last month, tensions grew when Trump appointed a special envoy to the territory, Gov. Jeff Landry of Louisiana, who said he would work “to make Greenland a part of the U.S.”
The Trump administration’s latest threats have alarmed not only Denmark and Greenland, but also European leaders in the NATO alliance. Any U.S. attack on Greenland would destroy the NATO alliance, Prime Minister Mette Frederiksen of Denmark warned Monday, and a purchase appears unlikely.
Denmark does not have the authority to sell the territory, and Greenland’s prime minister, Jens-Frederik Nielsen, has repeatedly scoffed at the idea, reiterating this week: “Our country is not for sale.” A Cold War-era treaty already gives the U.S. wide latitude to increase its military presence there. Yet there has been no such official U.S. request to do so, said Jens Adser Sorensen, a former senior official in Denmark’s parliament.
Similar news
