President Donald Trump and his team are considering “a series of options” in order to acquire Greenland — including “the use of the U.S. military,” White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt told CNBC on Tuesday.
This statement further escalates the Trump administration’s already aggressive rhetoric regarding Greenlandwhich the president has long sought to integrate into the United States.
Trump said Sunday that the United States needs Greenland for national security purposes, pointing to Russian and Chinese activities in the region near the Arctic island.
Greenland is a territory of Denmark which, like the United States, is a member of the international military alliance the North Atlantic Treaty Organization.
THE leaders of Denmark and other European NATO states issued a joint statement Tuesday morning pushing back against Trump’s increasingly vocal desire to obtain Greenland.
“Greenland belongs to its people. It is up to Denmark and Greenland, and them alone, to decide matters concerning Denmark and Greenland,” the statement said.
Leavitt’s new comment on Greenland came after the release of that joint statement.
A drone view shows a general view of Nuuk, Greenland, March 14, 2025.
Marko Djurica | Reuters
“President Trump has made it clear that the acquisition of Greenland is a U.S. national security priority and is vital to deterring our adversaries in the Arctic region,” Leavitt said.
“The President and his team are discussing a range of options to pursue this important foreign policy objective and, of course, reliance on the United States military is always an option available to the Commander in Chief,” she said.
Trump has frequently spoken about the U.S. absorption of Greenland and Canada, as well as the Panama Canal. These controversial comments sparked international criticism, although they were dismissed by some as unserious and it is unlikely to materialize in American foreign policy.
The president’s renewed talks on Greenland have sparked more serious concerns in recent days, after the U.S. military entered Venezuela and managed to capture that country’s leader, Nicolas Maduroand his wife, Cilia Flores.
Trump said after the operation that “we are going to lead the country until we can make a safe, appropriate and wise transition.”
Trump also said that American oil companies will enter Venezuela and “repair” the country energy infrastructure, and that these companies “will be rewarded” for their efforts.
Trump told The Atlantic on Sunday morning that he would leave it to others to decide what intervention in Venezuela would mean for Greenland.
“He’s lost his mind,” Rep. Jim McGovern, D-Mass., said when asked by CNBC about Trump’s Greenland threats.
“I think he needs to be taken seriously because he does some outrageous things,” McGovern added.
Read more CNBC coverage on GreenlandStephen Miller, a senior White House adviser, said in a CNN interview on Monday that the United States “should include Greenland as part of the United States.”
Miller also claimed that the question of whether the United States would take control of the island by force was moot. “No one will fight the United States militarily for the future of Greenland,” he said.
On Tuesday, Sen. Ruben Gallego, D-Ariz., announced he would introduce a resolution in Congress to block Trump to invade Greenland.
“WAKE UP. Trump is telling us exactly what he wants to do,” Gallego said. in an X post. “We need to stop him before he invades another country on a whim.”
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—CNBC Justin Papin contributed to this report.
