NUUK, Greenland : (FILES) An aircraft carrying US businessman Donald Trump Jr. arrives in Nuuk, Greenland on Jan 7, 2025. US President Donald Trump is discussing options including military action to take control of Greenland, the White House said on Jan 6, 2026, upping tensions that Denmark warns could destroy the NATO alliance. Trump has stepped up his designs on the mineral-rich, self-governing Danish territory in the arctic since the US military seized Venezuelan leader Nicolas Maduro last weekend. [Photo/Agencies]
The White House has said United States President Donald Trump is weighing "a range of options" to acquire Greenland, including possible military action, as tensions rise and Copenhagen, Nuuk, and European leaders warned that decisions about the island rest with Denmark and Greenland alone.
A joint statement on Tuesday by European leaders, warned the president to back off, saying: "Greenland belongs to its people. It is for Denmark and Greenland, and them only, to decide on matters concerning Denmark and Greenland."
The White House stated on Tuesday that Trump views acquiring Greenland as "a national security priority", adding that military force is "always an option". The president sees acquiring Greenland as necessary to "deter our adversaries in the Arctic region", it added.
"The president and his team are discussing a range of options to pursue this important foreign policy goal, and, of course, utilizing the US military is always an option at the commander-in-chief's disposal," the White House said.
Trump's interest in Greenland, first floated in 2019, reemerged this week after the Jan 3 US operation in Caracas that seized Venezuela's President Nicolas Maduro, intensifying tensions in Europe.
On Wednesday, France's Foreign Minister Jean Noel Barrot said the idea of one NATO member attacking another was inconceivable, dismissing talk of a US military move against Greenland as "nonsense".
He said US Secretary of State Marco Rubio had assured him Washington would not carry out a military operation to seize Greenland.
"He ruled out the possibility of what just happened in Venezuela happening in Greenland," Barrot told France Inter radio.
Barrot said France, Germany, and other allies are coordinating plans for how to respond if the US does attempt to take control of Greenland.
"Whatever form the intimidation takes and whatever its origin, we have begun work … to prepare ourselves to retaliate, to respond, and not to respond alone," Barrot said.
Members of US Congress, including Trump's fellow Republicans, have also criticized the US administration's stance on Greenland, noting Denmark is a loyal US ally.
"When Denmark and Greenland make it clear that Greenland is not for sale, the United States must honor its treaty obligations and respect the sovereignty and territorial integrity of the Kingdom of Denmark," Democratic Senator Jeanne Shaheen and Republican Senator Thom Tillis, co-chairs of the Senate NATO Observer Group, said in a statement.
The Reuters news agency, citing a senior US official, reported that Trump aims to bring the strategically vital, mineral-rich Danish territory under US control within three years, before his second term ends.
The official, who requested anonymity, said options range from buying Greenland from Denmark, which was an effort Trump pursued during his first term, to negotiating a Compact of Free Association with the territory, which would stop short of making the island part of the United States.
"Diplomacy is always the president's first option with anything, and deal-making. He loves deals, so if a good deal can be struck to acquire Greenland, that would definitely be his first instinct," the official said.
