The top US diplomat said yesterday he would meet leaders of Denmark next week but signalled no retreat from President Donald Trump’s aim to take over Greenland, and alarmed allies including France and Germany were working on a plan on how to respond.
A US military seizure of the mineral-rich Arctic island from a longtime ally, Denmark, would send shock waves through the Nato alliance and deepen the divide between Trump and European leaders.
In Washington, US Secretary of State Marco Rubio said he would meet Danish leaders next week and that Trump retained the option to address his objective by military means.
Still, “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,” Rubio told reporters when asked if the US was willing to potentially endanger Nato with a forcible takeover of Greenland.
White House Press secretary Karoline Leavitt said a potential US purchase of Greenland was being actively discussed by Trump and his national security team.
“All options are always on the table for President Trump ... the president’s first option always has been diplomacy,” Leavitt told a regular news briefing.
Earlier in the day, French Foreign Minister Jean-Noel Barrot said the subject would be raised at a meeting with the foreign ministers of Germany and Poland later in the day.
“We want to take action, but we want to do so together with our European partners,” he said on France Inter radio.
A German government source said separately that Germany was “closely working together with other European countries and Denmark on the next steps regarding Greenland”.
A senior European official said Denmark must lead efforts to co-ordinate a response, but “the Danes have yet to communicate to their European allies what kind of concrete support they wish to receive”.
Greenland is strategically located between Europe and North America, making it a critical site for the US ballistic missile defence system for decades.
Its mineral wealth also aligns with Washington’s ambition to reduce reliance on China.
Leaders from major European powers and Canada have rallied behind Greenland this week, saying the Arctic island belongs to its people, after Trump renewed threats to seize the territory.
Johannes Koskinen, chair of the Foreign Affairs Committee of Finland’s parliament, called for the issue to be raised at Nato.
Nato allies should “address whether something needs to be done and whether the United States should be brought into line in the sense that it cannot disregard jointly agreed plans in order to pursue its own power ambitions,” he said.
EU Council President Antonio Costa said the European Union would support Greenland and Denmark when needed and would not accept violations of international law no matter where they occur.
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