Rubio to meet Denmark leaders next week, signals no retreat on Trump’s Greenland goal

By John Irish, Andreas Rinke, Anne Kauranen and Daphne Psaledakis

PARIS/BERLIN/WASHINGTON, Jan 7 (Reuters) – The top U.S. diplomat said on Wednesday he would meet leaders of Denmark next week but signalled no retreat from President Donald Trump’s aim to take over Greenland as alarmed allies, including France and Germany, were working on a response.

A weekend U.S. military operation that seized the leader of Venezuela rekindled concerns about U.S. intentions toward Greenland, and U.S. officials have done little to allay fears.

U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio told reporters Trump retained the option to address his objective by military means.

Still, “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,” he said when asked if the U.S. was willing to potentially endanger the U.S.-led NATO military alliance with a forcible takeover of Greenland.

A U.S. military seizure of the mineral-rich Arctic island from Denmark, a long-time ally, would send shock waves through NATO and deepen the divide between Trump and European leaders.

It has prompted pushback in the U.S. Congress, with Democratic and Republican U.S. senators saying on Wednesday they expected the Senate would eventually vote on legislation seeking to rein in Trump’s ability to attempt to seize Greenland.

TRUMP SAYS GREENLAND KEY TO U.S. SECURITY

Greenland is strategically located between Europe and North America, making it a critical site for the U.S. ballistic missile defence system for decades. Its mineral wealth also aligns with Washington’s ambition to reduce reliance on China.

Trump first voiced the idea of gaining control of Greenland in 2019, during his first presidency.

He argues that it is key for U.S. military strategy and that Denmark has not done enough to protect it, although two treaties already give the U.S. military nearly unlimited access to the island, one signed with Denmark in 1951 and the other in 2023.

The White House said on Tuesday that Trump was discussing options for acquiring Greenland, including potential use of the U.S. military despite European objections.

Others in the administration have said different approaches were possible. Rubio said during a classified briefing late on Monday for congressional leaders the goal was to buy the island, two sources familiar with the briefing said.

White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt told a briefing on Wednesday a potential U.S. purchase of Greenland was being actively discussed by Trump and his national security team.

“All options are always on the table for President Trump … the president’s first option always has been diplomacy,” she said.

A senior Republican senator, Mitch McConnell, who has clashed with Trump on occasion, said “threats and intimidation by U.S. officials over American ownership of Greenland are as unseemly as they are counterproductive.”

“And the use of force to seize the sovereign democratic territory of one of America’s most loyal and capable allies would be an especially catastrophic act of strategic self-harm to America and its global influence,” he added in a statement.

EUROPEANS, CANADA RALLY BEHIND GREENLAND

Leaders from major European powers and Canada have rallied behind Greenland this week, saying it belongs to its people.

Britain said its Prime Minister Keir Starmer, who has said he stands with Denmark over Greenland, spoke with Trump on Wednesday and set out his position.

French Foreign Minister Jean-Noel Barrot said he would discuss Greenland with his German and Polish counterparts on Wednesday.

“We want to take action, but we want to do so together with our European partners,” he told France Inter radio.

A German government source said Germany was “closely working together with other European countries and Denmark on the next steps”.

A senior European official, who spoke on condition of anonymity, said Denmark must lead efforts to coordinate a response, but “the Danes have yet to communicate to their European allies what kind of concrete support they wish to receive”.

Johannes Koskinen, chair of the Foreign Affairs Committee of Finland’s parliament, called for the issue to be raised at NATO, whose decision-making North Atlantic Council meets next on Thursday.

Koskinen said NATO allies should “address whether something needs to be done and whether the United States should be brought into line in the sense that it cannot disregard jointly agreed plans in order to pursue its own power ambitions.”

The world’s largest island but with a population of just 57,000, Greenland is not an independent member of NATO but is covered by Denmark’s membership.

EU Council President Antonio Costa said the European Union would support Greenland and Denmark when needed and would not accept violations of international law no matter where they occur.

Andreas Osthagen, research director at the Oslo-based Fridtjof Nansen Institute, said statements from European political leaders showed a real political will.

“It is about political solidarity but also about self-preservation that all Western countries have a desire that we should retain a principle of state sovereignty.”

France’s Barrot suggested Rubio had ruled out a military operation.

“I myself was on the phone with the Secretary of State yesterday (…), he discarded the idea that what just happened in Venezuela could happen in Greenland,” he said.

Danish Foreign Minister Lars Lokke Rasmussen and his Greenlandic counterpart, Vivian Motzfeldt, requested an urgent meeting with Rubio to discuss the situation.

“We would like to add some nuance to the conversation,” Rasmussen wrote on social media. “The shouting match must be replaced by a more sensible dialogue. Now.”

Greenland continues to reject annexation by the U.S., said Aaja Chemnitz, a Greenlandic member of the Danish parliament.

“Greenland has never been for sale and never will be for sale,” she told Reuters, adding that U.S. officials not ruling out a military intervention was “completely appalling”.

DENMARK DISPUTES RUSSIAN, CHINESE PRESENCE

Trump has repeatedly said Russian and Chinese vessels are stalking waters around Greenland, which Denmark disputes.

“The image that’s being painted of Russian and Chinese ships right inside the Nuuk fjord and massive Chinese investments being made is not correct,” Rasmussen said.

Vessel tracking data from MarineTraffic and LSEG show no presence of Chinese or Russian ships near Greenland.

(Reporting by John Irish in Paris, Andreas Rinke in Berlin, Anne Kauranen in Helsinki, Stine Jacobsen, Tom Little and Soren Sirich Jeppesen in Copenhagen, Terje Solsvik and Nerijus Adomaitis in Oslo; Daphne Psaledakis, Simon Lewis, Jonathan Landay, Patricia Zengerle, Jeff Mason and Trevor Hunnicutt in Washington; writing by Niklas Pollard, Gwladys Fouche and David Brunnstrom; editing by Ros Russell, Mark Heinrich and Diane Craft)