Vice President JD Vance and Secretary of State Marco Rubio met today with top diplomats from Denmark and Greenland as tensions escalate over President Donald Trump's threats to acquire the Arctic island.
Trump has declared that "one way or the other, we are going to have Greenland," citing the territory's rare earth minerals as critical to U.S. national security.
Trump claimed that if the U.S. does not acquire Greenland, " Russia or China will."
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"NATO becomes far more formidable and effective with Greenland in the hands of the United States," he said. "Anything less than that is unacceptable."
The Danish prime minister has warned that using military force would mark "the end of NATO."
Greenland Prime Minister Jens-Frederik Nielsen said if forced to choose between the U.S. and Denmark, "we choose Denmark, NATO, and the EU."
The diplomatic meetings come as the Trump administration continues to press its interest in the autonomous Danish territory, which sits strategically between the Atlantic and Arctic oceans. Greenland contains significant deposits of rare earth elements used in technology and defense applications.
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The escalating rhetoric has strained relations between the longtime NATO allies, with European officials expressing concern about the implications for the Western alliance.
