US Secretary of State Marco Rubio will meet Danish officials next week to discuss Greenland, he said on Wednesday after the Trump administration reiterated that it retains a military option to seize the world's largest island from Nato ally Denmark.
Washington, emboldened by Saturday's operation to capture Venezuelan leader Nicolas Maduro, is threatening interventions in countries including Cuba, Mexico, Colombia and Greenland.
“I'm not here to talk about Denmark or military intervention,” Mr Rubio told reporters after briefing members of Congress on the situation in Venezuela. “I'll be meeting with them next week. We'll have those conversations with them then.”
On Tuesday, the White House said President Donald Trump and his team were considering several options, including the use of the military, to assist in “acquiring” Greenland.
Asked if Mr Trump planned for the US to buy Greenland, Mr Rubio said that this had always been the President's intention.
“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, which is what I am now, and what we work on, we always prefer to settle it in different ways – that included in Venezuela,” Mr Rubio told reporters.
Mr Trump has talked about taking Greenland since 2019, saying it was vital for the US military, and that Denmark had not done enough to protect it.
Danish Prime Minister Mette Frederiksen this week said a US takeover of Greenland would herald the end of the Nato military alliance.
Conservative Danish MP Rasmus Jarlov noted on X that the US already has exclusive military access to Greenland through a Second World War agreement, and said the biggest threat to the island is the US.
“It makes complete sense that they have downgraded their military presence because there are no threats against Greenland. (Except for the USA),” Mr Jarlov noted.
White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt said US presidents dating back to the 1800s have said that acquiring Greenland “is advantageous for America's national security".
“The President has been very open and clear with all of you and with the world that he views it in the best interest of the United States to deter Russian and Chinese aggression in the Arctic region,” she told reporters.
Jihan Abdalla contributed to this report from the White House
