U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio said Wednesday he will meet Danish leaders next week as the Trump administration presses ahead with its goal of acquiring Greenland, signaling no retreat from President Donald Trump’s ambitions despite alarm among NATO allies.
Rubio Signals Military Option Remains On Table
According to a Reuters report, Rubio told reporters Trump still keeps military options on the table even after a US raid in Venezuela that captured President Nicolás Maduro and his wife on drug-trafficking charges, a move that already rattled Europe.
He said that “as a diplomat, which is what I am now, and what we work on, we always prefer to settle it in different ways – that included in Venezuela,” but declined to rule out force over Greenland.
White House Frames Greenland As Strategic Asset
The White House has confirmed that a Greenland purchase remains “an active discussion.” Press secretary Karoline Leavitt on Tuesday said Trump views the Arctic island as key to countering Russia and China and that “all options are always on the table for President Trump … the president’s first option always has been diplomacy.”
Greenland, a self-governing part of the Kingdom of Denmark, sits between North America and Europe and hosts critical US missile defense assets at Thule Air Base. A Reuters report from January 2025 states that 1951 and 2023 defense agreements already give American forces broad access, while surveys show the island holds many minerals labeled “critical raw materials” by European authorities.
Lawmakers And Global Allies Push Back Forcefully
In Congress, senators from both parties say they expect legislation aimed at curbing Trump’s ability to seize Greenland by force. Senate Republican leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.), in a statement on Wednesday, warned that “threats and intimidation by US officials over American ownership of Greenland are as unseemly as they are counterproductive” and called any forcible takeover “an especially catastrophic act of strategic self-harm.”
Meanwhile, European governments and Canada have rallied behind Denmark and Greenland, insisting the island’s future belongs to its people and vowing to oppose any annexation that violates international law. Danish and Greenlandic leaders have recently repeatedly rejected Trump’s push, stressing that “Greenland has never been for sale and never will be for sale.”
Photo Courtesy: Maxim Elramsisy on Shutterstock.com
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