Denmark, Greenland Seek Talks With Rubio Over Trump’s Takeover Threat

Denmark and Greenland are seeking a meeting with U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio after the Trump administration doubled down on its intention to take over the strategic Arctic island, a Danish territory, Stefanie Dazio reported for the Associated Press (AP).

Danish Prime Minister Mette Frederiksen warned earlier this week that a U.S. takeover would amount to the end of the NATO military alliance. (Photo: Secretary Marco Rubio)

Tensions escalated after the White House said Tuesday that the “U.S. military is always an option.”

President Donald Trump has argued that the United States needs to control the world’s largest island to ensure its security in the face of rising threats from China and Russia in the Arctic.

Danish Prime Minister Mette Frederiksen warned earlier this week that a U.S. takeover would amount to the end of the NATO military alliance.

Leaders of France, Germany, Italy, Poland, Spain, and the United Kingdom joined Frederiksen in a statement reaffirming that the mineral-rich island “belongs to its people.”

The statement defended the sovereignty of Greenland, a self-governing territory of Denmark and part of NATO.

“The Nordics do not lightly make statements like this,” Maria Martisiute, a defense analyst at the European Policy Centre think tank, told the Associated Press (AP).

“But it is Trump, whose bombastic language, bordering on direct threats and intimidation, is directed at another ally by saying, ‘I will control or annex the territory.’”

The U.S. military action in Venezuela has heightened concerns across Europe.

Trump and his advisers have reiterated in recent days the president’s desire to take over the island, which guards Arctic and North Atlantic approaches to North America, Geir Moulson and Mark Carlson also reported for AP.