Leading American publications, including the "Wall Street Journal" and the "New York Times", published information that US Secretary of State Marco Rubio told Congressional representatives that President Donald Trump plans to purchase Greenland rather than seize it by military force, BTA reported.
Rubio said this on Monday to lawmakers who participate in the main committees on the armed forces and foreign policy of both houses of Congress. On the same day, Trump ordered his aides to present an updated plan, the "New York Times" writes.
Rubio did not present details of the plan, nor did he clarify what he meant by the phrase "purchase" of Greenland, the publication notes. Trump has been involved in real estate entrepreneurship for decades. One of his top diplomatic envoys, Steve Witkoff, has the same professional experience.
Trump has shown interest in Greenland since his first term, recalls the "New York Times".
The leaders of six NATO member countries yesterday supported Danish Prime Minister Mette Frederiksen in a remarkable joint declaration, rejecting Trump's claims that the United States should acquire Greenland. The declaration was signed by Britain, France, Germany, Italy, Spain and Poland. All of these countries are close allies of Washington, the "New York Times" also writes.
"Security in the Arctic must be achieved collectively, by agreement among NATO allies, including the United States, in compliance with the UN Charter," the document states. The six countries and Denmark recall that sovereignty, territorial integrity and the inviolability of borders are universal principles.
"We will not stop defending them", the leaders stressed in the declaration.
"President Trump has made it clear that acquiring Greenland is a national security priority for the United States and that it is vital to deterring our adversaries in the Arctic region," said White House spokeswoman Caroline Levitt, quoted by the "New York Times". "The president and his team are discussing various options to achieve this important foreign policy objective, and of course, the use of U.S. military forces is always an option available to the commander in chief," Levitt added.
Some U.S. and European officials fear that the U.S. military operation to oust Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro, along with U.S. strikes in Nigeria and Iran, signal that Trump is now more willing than ever to use force, the "Wall Street Journal" reported.
Although Rubio played down the idea that the United States could launch a military intervention in Greenland, Stephen Miller, one of his closest advisers, said in a television interview on Monday that the option of an invasion could not be ruled out. "No one is going to fight a war with the US over the future of Greenland", Miller said, quoted by "The Wall Street Journal".
"We need Greenland from a national security perspective, and the EU needs us to own it, and they know it", Trump said a day earlier.
The Republican president emphasizes that the US must control Greenland in order to be able to more successfully defend the Arctic from Russia and China, notes "The Wall Street Journal". In addition, Trump openly states that the US government and American companies should have wider access to the island's vital raw materials.
The British newspaper "The Guardian" recalls some facts about Greenland that stand behind Trump's desire to make the island an American territory. Greenland has long been on Trump's agenda, but the reasons for it have changed over time, the publication points out.
In 2019, during his first term, Trump confirmed that he had urged his advisers to explore how the US could buy Greenland. It is "essentially a big real estate deal," the Republican president explained at the time.
Last January, shortly after taking office for a second presidential term, Trump said that the US's "economic security" was a major reason for his aspirations for the island.
However, in recent days, Trump has said that he needs Greenland "from a national security perspective," even though the island's accession to the US would pose a risk to NATO, the Guardian newspaper notes.
Grenland is seen as an increasingly important territory for American defense due to its strategic location between the US and Russia. The island is also emerging as a geopolitical battleground amid the deepening climate crisis.
In addition to oil and gas, Greenland is attracting international interest with its reserves of a number of raw materials used in green technologies. The island is also attracting interest from China, which dominates the world's production of rare earth elements. Beijing has already threatened to restrict exports of critical minerals, the Guardian also writes.
The rapid melting of the island's vast ice sheets and glaciers could unlock opportunities for oil drilling, although Greenland stopped issuing exploration licenses in 2021. Warming could also provide opportunities for the extraction of copper, lithium, cobalt and nickel, the British publication lists.
The melting of Arctic ice is also opening up new sea routes that could almost halve the journey from Western Europe to East Asia. In November, China and Russia agreed to cooperate in developing new Arctic sea routes, the Guardian recalls.
The US has maintained a military base in Pitufik since the Cold War, the Guardian writes. This base is vital to the US early warning system.
"The Greenland crisis is here", the Washington Post headlines.
Lawmakers from both parties in the US Congress have issued a joint statement condemning Trump's "military threats" towards Greenland and warning that these expansionist impulses are helping Russia and China.
The US congressmen point out that the US already has access to everything it needs in Greenland. "If we want to deploy more forces or build additional missile defense infrastructure in Greenland, Denmark has given us the green light to do so. Our ally has always made it easy for us. Threatening to annex Greenland unnecessarily undermines this cooperation without bringing any benefit," the lawmakers, quoted by "The Washington Post", added.
The balance sheet of Trump's operation in Venezuela indicates that the United States is changing the paradigm it has adhered to until now, the publication also writes. Neo-imperialist impulses that existed more than a century ago are starting to be triggered, and the United States is increasingly moving away from the "rules-based" order established after World War II, continues "The Washington Post".
European officials, as well as leaders from a number of countries around the world who do not want to live by the law of the strong, are constantly calling for respect for international law. They are turning to institutions like the United Nations, which were created to ensure that rules are followed.
"Let's not be naive, we know that the world is changing," Belgian Foreign Minister Maxime Prevost said in an interview with "The Washington Post" this week. "But we must continue to have defenders of the rules-based order, because this is the best environment for achieving results, economic prosperity and peace," the Belgian diplomat added.
The White House, however, has a different opinion, the "Washington Post" notes. "We live in a world that is governed by force, by coercion, by authority," White House adviser Stephen Miller said on CNN. "These are iron laws since the beginning of the world," Miller added.