Trump weighs using U.S. military to acquire Greenland: White House

“President Trump has made it well known that acquiring Greenland is a national security priority of the United States, and it’s vital to deter our adversaries in the Arctic region,” Leavitt said in an emailed statement.

“The President and his team are discussing a range of options to pursue this important foreign policy goal, and of course, utilizing the U.S. Military is always an option at the Commander in Chief’s disposal,” she said.

Secretary of State Marco Rubio, however, told lawmakers during a closed briefing Monday that the administration’s goal is to buy Greenland from Denmark, the Wall Street Journal reported Tuesday afternoon.

Trump has spoken frequently about absorbing both Greenland and Canada into the U.S., as well as the Panama Canal. The controversial comments have drawn international rebukes, though they were dismissed by some as unserious and unlikely to materialize in U.S. foreign policy.

The president’s renewed discussion of Greenland has prompted more serious concerns in recent days, after the U.S. military entered Venezuela and successfully captured that country’s leader, Nicolás Maduro, and his wife, Cilia Flores.

Trump said after that operation that “we are going to run the country until such time as we can do a safe, proper and judicious transition.”

Trump also said that U.S. oil companies will enter Venezuela and “fix” the country’s energy infrastructure, and that those firms “will be reimbursed” for their efforts.

Trump told The Atlantic on Sunday morning that he will leave it up to others to decide what the intervention in Venezuela means for Greenland.

“He has lost his damn mind,” said Rep. Jim McGovern, D-Mass., when asked by CNBC about Trump’s Greenland threats.

“I think you have to take him seriously, because he does outrageous things,” McGovern added.

Article source: https://www.cnbc.com/2026/01/06/trump-greenland-military-white-house.html