U.S. President Donald Trump gestures as he arrives to address House Republicans at their annual issues conference retreat, at the Kennedy Center, renamed the Trump-Kennedy Center by the Trump-appointed board of directors, in Washington, D.C., U.S., January 6, 2026.
Kevin Lamarque | Reuters
President Donald Trump and his team are considering “a range of options” in order to acquire Greenland, including “utilizing the U.S. Military,” White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt told CNBC on Tuesday.
The statement further escalates the Trump administration’s rhetoric about Greenland, which the president has long sought to make a part of the United States.
Trump said Sunday that the U.S. needs Greenland for national security purposes, pointing to Russian and Chinese activities in the region near the Arctic island.
Greenland is a territory of Denmark, which, like the U.S., is a member of international military alliance the North Atlantic Treaty Organization.
The leaders of Denmark and other European NATO states on Tuesday issued a joint statement pushing back on Trump’s increasingly vocal desire to obtain Greenland.
Leavitt’s latest statement shows the Trump administration responding by ratcheting up its language.
“President Trump has made it well known that acquiring Greenland is a national security priority of the United States, and it’s vital to deter our adversaries in the Arctic region,” Leavitt said.
“The President and his team are discussing a range of options to pursue this important foreign policy goal, and of course, utilizing the U.S. Military is always an option at the Commander in Chief’s disposal,” she said.
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