U.S. lawmakers seek to reassure Denmark amid White House push to acquire Greenland

CBS

A bipartisan congressional delegation was to meet with Danish and Greenlandic officials Friday in an effort to show support for Greenland’s territorial integrity despite President Trump’s continued push to acquire the island.

The White House had claimed Thursday that discussions involving Vice President JD Vance, Secretary of State Marco Rubio and Danish officials earlier this week were “technical talks on the acquisition of Greenland.” That claim has been strongly rejected by Denmark’s foreign minister Lars Løkke Rasmussen, who told Danish broadcaster TV2 Thursday that if the U.S. side comes to more talks with that mindset then it will be a “a very, very short series of meetings.”

U.S. Special Envoy to Greenland Jeff Landry told Fox News Friday that he believes a deal can be achieved on the U.S. acquiring Greenland and that he plans to visit the island in March.

“The president is serious. I think he’s laid the markers down. He’s told Denmark what he’s looking for, and now it’s a matter of having Secretary Rubio and Vice President JD Vance make a deal,” Landry said, according to the Reuters news agency.

The leaders of both Denmark and Greenland have repeatedly rejected the idea of a U.S. takeover of the island. Earlier this week Rasmussen, Denmark’s top diplomat, said his country and the U.S. still had “fundamental” differences over Greenland’s future but would continue to talk.

Greenland— the world’s largest island, which lies between the Arctic and Atlantic oceans– is a self-governing Danish territory. Mr. Trump has argued that the U.S. needs to control the vast, largely frozen island for national security reasons, to counter the geopolitical threat posed by Russia and China. The president has not ruled out seizing the territory through military force.

Speaking at the University of Copenhagen Friday, Democratic Sen. Jeanne Shaheen of New Hampshire , a ranking member of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee who is taking part in the congressional visit, told attendees that “millions of Americans are deeply concerned by the recent rhetoric about the United States taking over Greenland, either buying it or using military force.”

“That rhetoric doesn’t just undermine our bilateral relationship, it undermines the NATO Alliance at a time when our adversaries seek to benefit from division,” Shaheen said. “(Russian President) Vladimir Putin would welcome any move that fractures NATO or diverts attention and resources away from Ukraine,” Shaheen said.

Denmark is a member of the U.S.-led military alliance and several NATO members have expressed concern about the Trump administration’s rhetoric regarding Greenland.

On Thursday, Danish soldiers arrived there, as did troops from NATO partners including France, Germany and the Netherlands in an effort to bolster the island’s security.

“At the request of Denmark, I have decided that France will participate in the joint exercises organized by Denmark in Greenland, Operation Arctic Endurance,” French president Emmanuel Macron said in a social media post Wednesday.

Speaking to reporters at a press briefing Thursday, White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt said that the presence of European troops in Greenland doesn’t impact Mr. Trump’s “goal of the acquisition of Greenland at all.”

Earlier this month, the leaders of France, Germany, Italy, Poland, Spain, the U.K. and Greenland said “Greenland belongs to its people” in a joint statement, while stressing that America’s NATO allies are taking security in the Arctic region seriously.

“NATO has made clear that the Arctic region is a priority and European Allies are stepping up. We and many other Allies have increased our presence, activities and investments, to keep the Arctic safe and to deter adversaries,” the statement said.

Potential military action by the United States in Greenland could jeopardize the eight-decade-old NATO alliance. Under Article 5 of the North Atlantic Treaty, an armed attack against one NATO member is considered an attack against the entire alliance. Any U.S. action in Greenland could undermine that central principle.

Article 5 has been triggered only once in history, following the September 11, 2001, terrorist attacks on the United States. In the subsequent U.S. led invasions of Iraq and Afghanistan, NATO allies including Denmark provided military support to the United States on the ground.