US secretary of state Marco Rubio said he plans to meet with Danish officials next week after the Trump administration doubled down on its intention to take over Greenland.
An urgent meeting had been requested by officials from Greenland and Denmark, following president Donald Trump’s reinvigorated focus on taking over the strategic Arctic island.
Speaking to reporters on Wednesday, Rubio did not answer a question about whether the Trump administration was willing to move ahead with a military intervention.
“I’m not here to talk about Denmark or military intervention,” he said. “I’ll be meeting with them next week; we’ll have those conversations with them then, but I don’t have anything further to add to that today.”
Another reporter insisted asking him if the administration is willing to risk the NATO alliance by potentially moving ahead with a military operation.
Rubio told the reporter that “the President always retained the option, if he – every president, not this President, every president – always retains the option – I’m not talking about Greenland; I’m just talking about globally. If the President identifies a threat to the national security of the United States, every president retains the option to address it through military means.”
As a diplomat, he said, “we always prefer to settle it in different ways. That included in Venezuela. We tried repeatedly to reach an outcome here that did not involve having to go in and grab an indicted drug trafficker. Those were unsuccessful, unfortunately.”
On Wednesday, Rubio told reporters that Trump has been talking about acquiring Greenland since his first term.
Specifically, the reporter asked him: “Does the U.S. intend to buy Greenland? Can you clarify your comments to lawmakers this week?” with Rubio responding: “That’s always been the President’s intent from the very beginning. He said it very early on. I mean, this is not new; he talked about it in his first term. And he’s not the first U.S. president that has examined or looked at how could we acquire Greenland. There’s an interest there. But – so I just reminded them of the fact that not only did Truman want to do it, but President Trump’s been talking about this since his first term.”
Danish prime minister Mette Frederiksen sharply criticized earlier this week the idea that the U.S. could take over Greenland as the US president’s move to “run” Venezuela set alarm bells ringing in the Nordic nation about America’s ambitions.
The EU has discussed what a European response would look like if the US decided not to respect Greenland’s sovereignty and territorial integrity, high representative/vice-president Kaja Kallas said Thursday.
“Of course, the messages that we hear regarding Greenland are extremely concerning, and we have had discussions also among the Europeans,” Kallas told reporters at a press briefing following the meeting with Egyptian minister for foreign affairs, emigration and Egyptian expatriates, Badr Abdelatty on Thursday.
“If this is a real threat, and if it is, then what would be our response? As Denmark has been a good ally for the United States, all these statements are not really helping the stability of the world, I would say,” she said. “The international law is very clear, and we have to stick to it. It is clear that it is the only thing that protects smaller countries, and that is why it is in the interest of all of us. And we discussed this today, as well, that we uphold the international law on all levels.”
President Trump has argued that it is crucial for national security that the U.S. control the island in the face of possible threats from China and Russia along the Arctic.
Trump spoke a day after the U.S. special forces captured Venezuelan president Nicolás Maduro.
“We need Greenland from a national security situation. It’s so strategic. Right now, Greenland is covered with Russian and Chinese ships all over the place. We need Greenland from the standpoint of national security, and Denmark is not going to be able to do it,” he said in response to a reporter’s question, adding the European Union “needs us to have it.”
Canada’s prime minister Mark Carney met on Tuesday with the prime minister of Denmark Mette Frederiksen on the margins of the Coalition of the Willing meeting in Paris, France.
Carney emphasised Canada’s support for the sovereignty and territorial integrity of Denmark, including Greenland, which must be respected in accordance with international law.
