Denmark stands firm on Greenland after Rubio says Trump's interest is no joke
Reuters
Fri, January 31, 2025
Danish Foreign Minister Lars Lokke Rasmussen addresses the media in Copenhagen
COPENHANGEN (Reuters) - Denmark said on Friday it meant seriously that Greenland is not for sale, after Secretary of State Marco Rubio said U.S. President Donald Trump's interest in acquiring the island was "not a joke".
Trump says he will make the autonomous territory of Denmark a part of the United States, and has not ruled out using military or economic power to persuade Denmark to hand it over.
Rubio told Sirius XM's The Megyn Kelly Show on Thursday that acquiring Greenland was in the U.S. national interest. Trump had not ruled out military coercion to acquire it so as not to take leverage off the table, he said.
"This is not a joke," Rubio said. "This is not about acquiring land for the purpose of acquiring land. This is in our national interest and it needs to be solved."
Responding to Rubio's interview, Denmark's Foreign Minister Lars Lokke Rasmussen said: "I would be more surprised if he had said it was a joke."
"We seriously mean - and this is also true in Greenland - that Greenland is not for sale."
The island has around 57,000 residents who govern their own domestic affairs. Denmark is responsible for Greenland's defence and security, and says only Greenlanders can decide their future. The United States operates an airbase there under treaty.
Opinion polls show most residents of Greenland favour a looser relationship with Denmark but also oppose the territory becoming part of the United States.
Greenland's Prime Minister Mute Egede, who has stepped up a push for independence from Denmark, has also repeatedly said the island is not for sale and its people must decide their own fate.
Rubio in the interview said the Arctic was going to become critical for shipping lanes and the United States needs to be able to defend this. He said U.S. rival China may seek to develop its presence.
Asked if the U.S. would own Greenland in four years, Rubio said: "Obviously that's the president's priority and he has made that point ... We're not in a position yet to discuss exactly how we'll proceed tactically. What I think you can rest assured of is that four years from now, our interest in the Arctic will be more secure."
Rasmussen said that the U.S. interests outlined by Rubio in the interview match those of the Kingdom of Denmark.
"If we can have a substantive discussion about this, then we will also find a solution," he said.
Referring to Rubio's comments, Rasmussen said: "It is summed up in this ambition that if the United States just owned the whole world, then everything would be under control. But that is not going to happen, so we have to find another form where we jointly accomplish these tasks."
(Reporting by Jacob Gronholt-Pedersen; Editing by Peter Graff)
'This is not a joke': Rubio confirms Trump's intentions to buy Greenland are genuine
Gustaf Kilander
Fri, January 31, 2025
President Donald Trump’s new Secretary of State, Marco Rubio, confirmed during a Thursday interview that the commander-in-chief’s intentions to buy Greenland from Denmark are genuine and “not a joke.”
Rubio, a former Florida senator, told SiriusXM host Megyn Kelly that Trump’s desire to purchase the Arctic autonomous territory is based on national security concerns for the U.S. and the rest of the world as China increases its activities in the region.
“This is not a joke, like what he’s saying is pretty accurate. People have been talking about it for years,” Rubio said.
”This is not about acquiring land for the purpose of acquiring land. This is in our national interest, and it needs to be solved. President Trump’s put out there what he intends to do, which is to purchase it.”
Rubio said that even as China currently doesn’t have a heavy presence in the Arctic, it’s “realistic” to think that the country would “install facilities that give them access to the Arctic with the cover of a Chinese company, but that in reality, to serve a dual purpose, that in a moment of conflict, they could send naval vessels to that facility and operate from there.”
Marco Rubio said during an interview with Megyn Kelly that Trump’s wish to buy Greenland is ‘not a joke’
Trump has, both in private and in public, shared his willingness to purchase the island, and he has previously claimed that Denmark would “come along” in the end, even in the face of staunch opposition from the Danes.
Greenland’s Prime Minister Mute Egede previously appeared on Fox News, saying: “We don’t want to be Danes. We don’t even want to be Americans. We want to be Greenlanders.”
Danish Prime Minister Mette Frederiksen took part in an at times combative and antagonistic phone call with Trump on January 15, five days before he was sworn in for a second term in the White House.
“I wasn’t privy to that phone call, but I imagine the phone call went the way a lot of these phone calls go, and that is, he just speaks bluntly and frankly with people,” said Rubio on Thursday. “And ultimately, I think diplomacy, in many cases, works better when you’re straightforward, as opposed to using platitudes and language that translates to nothing.”
The SiriusXM interview was highlighted by The Hill.
The secretary also claimed that if China attacked Greenland, there would be no way for the Danes to stop them.
Greenland’s Prime Minister Mute Egede told Fox News that his countrymen don’t want to Danes or Americans. (REUTERS)
“Denmark can’t stop them. They would rely on the United States to do so,” said Rubio. “And so his point is, if the United States is on the hook to provide as we are now, we have a defense agreement with them to protect Greenland, if it comes under assault, if we’re already on the hook for having to do that, then we might as well have more control over what happens there.”
Earlier this week, the Danes announced that it would spend another $2 billion on defending its North Atlantic territories, including using long-range drones and new ships built for operating in Arctic waters.
The Danes recently rejected a proposal from the French to send E.U. troops to Greenland, and a Danish MP suggested that the island rejoin the union for security reasons following its 1985 departure.
Rubio Says Trump Greenland Bid ‘Not a Joke,’ Citing China Risks
Iain Marlow
Fri, January 31, 2025
(Bloomberg) -- The top US diplomat said President Donald Trump’s proposal to buy Greenland “is not a joke” because of the risk that China would station resources on the island that threaten American security and the importance of Arctic shipping lanes for energy exports.
“Those conversations are going to happen, but this is not a joke,” Secretary of State Marco Rubio said about discussions between Trump and Danish authorities over potentially buying the island. He spoke in an interview on SiriusXM’s The Megyn Kelly Show posted online Thursday. Rubio also reiterated the Trump administration’s interest in the Panama Canal.
Rubio, who has previously defended Trump’s interest in Greenland, said Beijing may deploy Chinese companies to establish operations on the island that might one day be used by its military, adding that this was also a concern in Panama.
“It is completely realistic to believe that the Chinese will eventually, maybe even in the short term, try to do in Greenland what they have done at the Panama Canal and in other places,” said Rubio, a longtime China hawk. “And that is install facilities that give them access to the Arctic with the cover of a Chinese company, but that in reality serve a dual purpose — that in a moment of conflict they could send naval vessels to that facility and operate from there.”
Rubio said Arctic shipping routes were going to be crucial for the Trump administration’s plan to export more American energy. Greenland’s potential as a source of critical minerals also has been cited within Trump’s camp as a reason for its strategic value.
A spokesman for China’s embassy in Washington, Liu Pengyu, told Bloomberg in a statement that Rubio’s accusations about a possible dual-use facility on Greenland “are totally groundless and unfounded.” He added that Beijing “does not take part in managing or operating” the Panama Canal and respects the country’s sovereignty.
Meanwhile, Danish Foreign Minister Lars Lokke Rasmussen responded to the comments on Friday saying that American interests in the Arctic matches those of Denmark. But he reiterated that Greenland is not for sale.
“It’s also not a joke when we say that of course Greenland should not become American,” Rasmussen said in an interview with Danish national broadcaster DR. “The Kingdom of Denmark has no interest in that. Neither does Greenland, that is crystal clear.”
Earlier this week, Danish Prime Minister Mette Frederiksen sought to drum up support from European allies to stand up to Trump’s efforts to appropriate Greenland.
While Rubio was seen as the most conventional of Trump’s cabinet picks, he’s fully backed Trump’s foreign policy ideas, including a disruptive foreign aid freeze that has alarmed global aid organizations including the World Health Organization.
Trump has also called for the US to retake control of the Panama Canal unless the cost of passage for naval and merchant ships is slashed. He has falsely accused China of operating the waterway, exaggerating the significance of two ports on either side of the canal operated by a Hong Kong-based firm.
On Wednesday evening, Trump’s Pentagon chief, Pete Hegseth, said the US had the right to “do what is necessary” to ensure access to the Panama Canal
--With assistance from Sanne Wass.
The US military is still relying on Greenland for defense in the Arctic even as Trump's ambitions stir tensions
Chris Panella
Fri, January 31, 2025
US F-16s flew to Greenland for force posturing after Russian aircraft were detected in the Arctic.
The US and Greenland continue their standard agreement for presence in the Arctic region.
Tensions are high as President Trump continues pressing his desire to buy Greenland.
US F-16 fighter jets flew to Greenland earlier this week, highlighting the vast autonomous territory's long-standing role in supporting North American defense, even as the new administration complicates matters with new landgrab ambitions.
Right now is an unusually tense time between the US and Denmark, a longtime American ally, as President Donald Trump continues to push forward on ambitions to acquire Greenland. His newly confirmed secretary of state, Marco Rubio, says he's serious.
The North American Aerospace Defense Command confirmed Thursday that it monitored the activity of multiple Russian military aircraft in the Arctic earlier this week. The aircraft remained in international airspace and weren't seen as a threat, but as part of its defense mission, NORAD regularly scrambles patrol aircraft to monitor these situations.
Two patrols — one from the Canadian NORAD region and the other from the Alaskan NORAD region — were dispatched to track the activity. The Canadian patrol consisted of two Canadian CF-18s and KC-135 refueling aircraft, while the Alaskan patrol included two American F-35s, one E-3, and two KC-135 refueling aircraft.
Several hours after those patrols, NORAD "sent two F-16s from Alaska to Greenland exercising its standard agreement with Greenland to forward posture NORAD presence in the activity." The command said that the dispatch was not in response to any current threat.
Aircraft with the bilateral NORAD command regularly deploy to Pituffik Space Base on the western tip of northern Greenland. NORAD Public Affairs said that these aircraft "support various long planned NORAD activities with our allies and partners, building on the longstanding defense cooperation between the US, Canada, and the Kingdom of Denmark."
The routine activity highlights that Greenland isn't simply land; it is part of a strategic partnership.
In recent months, President Donald Trump has repeatedly expressed interest in a US acquisition of Greenland, a self-ruling Danish territory. He has called the island, which is rich in natural resources, an "absolutely necessity" and has even suggested using force or coercion to bring it under US control.
Trump's comments on Greenland have been met with a wide range of responses and confusion, especially with Greenlanders and US partners in Europe, but on Thursday, the newly sworn-in US secretary of state, Rubio, said on The Megyn Kelly Show on SiriusXM that Trump's desire to acquire the island is "not a joke."
He said "this is not about acquiring land for the purpose of acquiring land. This is in our national interest, and it needs to be solved."
Beyond its natural resources, Greenland is also primely located in an area of growing strategic competition: the Arctic. It could support the US force posture in the Arctic, making it easier to monitor and counter China and Russia's ambitions in the region. China is a critical factor in Trump's attitude on the Panama Canal, as well.
In response to Rubio's remarks on Trump's ambitions, Danish Foreign Minister Lars Løkke Rasmussen said Friday, "I would be more surprised if he said it was a joke," per Danish public broadcaster TV2. "We have no interest in selling Greenland to the US, it will not happen."
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