US President Donald Trump has said the United States must take control of Greenland to stop Russia or China gaining a strategic foothold in the Arctic, as competition over security and influence in the region intensifies, The WP Times reports, citing BBC and Reuters. Speaking to journalists on 9 January, Trump said existing defence agreements were no longer sufficient and argued that only full US ownership of Greenland could guarantee the island’s security against Moscow and Beijing.
“You defend ownership. You don’t defend a lease,” Trump said. “And we must protect Greenland. If we don’t, China or Russia will. And we do not want China or Russia as our neighbours.”
Under existing international agreements, the United States already has the right to deploy as many troops as it wishes to Greenland. But Trump said that military access alone was insufficient. He said the US could take Greenland “the easy way or the hard way”. The White House has previously said it prefers to buy the island, but has not ruled out the use of force to bring it under American control.
“We’re going to do something with Greenland, whether they like it or not,” Trump said. “Because if we don’t, Russia or China will take it, and we don’t want them next door to us.”
Trump added that he “loves the people of China and Russia”, but said he did not want either country to become a neighbour of the United States through Greenland. The renewed comments come after Trump again raised the issue following a US military operation in Venezuela. The White House later said the official position of the Trump administration is that “Greenland should be part of the United States”.
Trump first floated the idea of buying Greenland in 2019, but since returning to the White House he has elevated the proposal into a core national-security and economic-security objective, pointing to Arctic shipping lanes, military basing and access to critical minerals as strategic assets the United States cannot afford to lose. He has refused to rule out the use of military or economic pressure to bring the island under US control.
Greenland is an autonomous territory within the Kingdom of Denmark, but its location — between North America, Europe and the Arctic — makes it one of the most strategically sensitive regions in the world. The island hosts the US Pituffik Space Base, which plays a key role in missile-warning systems, Arctic surveillance and space operations.
Following Trump’s renewed statements, Denmark has moved to reinforce Greenland’s defence posture. Danish Prime Minister Mette Frederiksen said she could not imagine the United States using force against Greenland, stressing that sovereignty and self-determination rest with the island’s population, not Washington or Copenhagen.
Greenland’s Prime Minister Múte Egede said in January 2025 that the island belongs to Greenlanders alone, rejecting both Danish and American rule and warning that Greenland should not become a bargaining chip in great-power competition between the US, Russia and China.
In March, Trump again raised the prospect of annexing Greenland, openly urging the island’s residents to back joining the United States. Framing the pitch as both a security guarantee and an economic offer, he said Washington would be “ready to invest billions of dollars” to create new jobs and “make you rich” — language that intensified concerns in Denmark and Greenland that the island was being treated as a strategic prize in great-power competition.
Read about the life of Westminster and Pimlico district, London and the world. 24/7 news with fresh and useful updates on culture, business, technology and city life: Starmer tells Trump “hands off Greenland” as UK backs Denmark and Greenland’s right to decide
