US Secretary of State Marco Rubio has said he will meet with Danish officials next week to discuss Greenland, as the Trump administration continues to publicly float the idea of the United States taking control of the Arctic territory.
Rubio made the comments on Capitol Hill on Wednesday after being asked why the administration had not accepted Denmark’s request for talks about Greenland, which is a self-governing territory within the Kingdom of Denmark. “I’ll be meeting with them next week,” Rubio said.
Pressed on whether he would withdraw the option of using the US military to take over Greenland, Rubio declined to engage, saying he was “not here to talk about Denmark or military intervention” and adding that he would not “add things further” ahead of the meeting.
Denmark, for its part, announced a major new defence commitment for Greenland. On Tuesday evening, Danish Defence Minister and Deputy Prime Minister Troels Lund Poulsen said Denmark would spend 88 billion Danish kroner (about US$13.8bn) on rearming Greenland, citing what he described as a “serious security situation”.
Poulsen said he hoped the United States would recognise Denmark’s efforts and cooperate on Arctic security, adding that Denmark wanted to remain an ally of the US but that doing so required “mutual willingness to show respect and cooperation”.
The Danish announcement followed comments from the White House that the administration was considering “a range of options” to acquire Greenland, potentially including military force. White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt told CNBC in an email that President Donald Trump viewed acquiring Greenland as a national security priority to deter US adversaries in the Arctic region, and said using the US military was “always an option” for the commander-in-chief.
European leaders have publicly pushed back against US territorial ambitions. A joint statement from European leaders said Greenland belongs to its people and that only Denmark and Greenland can decide the territory’s future. Denmark’s Prime Minister Mette Frederiksen warned that if the US attacked another NATO country, “everything will stop,” framing the issue as a direct threat to the alliance.
Reports and briefings have pointed in different directions about the administration’s intentions. Rubio was reported to have told lawmakers in a closed briefing that the US did not plan to invade Greenland and instead aimed to buy it from Denmark. At the same time, the White House has continued to describe military force as an available option.
In Washington, Republican lawmakers have largely downplayed Trump’s military rhetoric as negotiating leverage — describing it as “the art of the deal” — while Democrats and some Republicans have warned the comments are damaging NATO and could require congressional authorisation if any military action were pursued. Separate legislative efforts were flagged to block potential military action via War Powers resolutions.
The Greenland issue has also begun feeding into markets. European defence stocks extended gains during the week as Denmark’s rearmament plan and the broader escalation in rhetoric increased investor focus on security spending across the region.
Rubio’s meeting with Denmark next week is expected to be the first formal engagement at secretary level since the latest round of public statements and counter-statements over Greenland.
