Trump administration officials will meet with Danish officials about Greenland on Wednesday, the sources said
Trump administration officials will meet with Danish officials about Greenland on Wednesday, media sources told CBS News.
The meeting, which has not been officially announced, comes after Secretary of State Marco Rubio told Congress last week that President Trump is interested in buying the Danish property. The White House also said Tuesday that officials are discussing several options to find Greenlandincluding using the US military to take it by force.
Although Rubio downplayed the military threat in his remarks to reporters, Mr. Trump doubled down on the possibility on Friday, saying, “I’d like to make a deal the easy way, but if we don’t do it the easy way, we’re going to do it the hard way.”
Sen. Tim Kaine, who met with Danish officials last week, said on Sunday that he thinks Democrats and Republicans in Congress will unite to stop any military action aimed at taking over Greenland. “We’re not going to do it the hard way, and we’re not going to do it the easy way,” he said. “Face the Nation with Margaret Brennan.”
“Either we will continue to work with Denmark as an independent nation that we are allied with, and we will not treat them as an enemy or as an enemy,” the Democrat said.
Mr. Trump told the New York Times in an interview published last week that ownership of Greenland, the world’s largest island, is important because “that’s what I feel is psychologically necessary to succeed.” Mr. Trump has repeatedly said that he feels the US needs to buy Greenland for defense purposes.
The president’s escalating language in recent weeks has further strained already strained relations with European allies. Many European politicians told CBS News that they are increasingly realizing that America’s commitment to the defense of Europe and NATO is no longer what it was decades ago – or even just a few years ago. war in Ukrainewhen the US mobilized European countries to unite against Russian aggression. One diplomat told CBS News that the situation in Greenland could be problematic.
Louisiana GOP Gov. Jeff Landry, Mr. Trump nominated him as special envoy to Greenland last month, he wrote on Sunday in X that “History matters. The US protected Greenland’s sovereignty during WWII when Denmark could not.”
“After the war, Denmark is back-stepping and ignoring UN rules. This should be about hospitality, not hostility,” Landry said.
In response, Denmark’s Ambassador to the US Jesper Møller Sørensen said that “facts matter again,” and pointed out that Greenland “has been part of the Kingdom of Denmark for centuries.” He also emphasized that last week, the five groups in Greenland’s Parliament repeated it they don’t want to be part of the US
“We don’t want to be American, we don’t want to be Danish, we want to be Greenlandic,” Greenland Prime Minister Jens-Frederik Nielsen and four party leaders said in a statement Friday night.
Danish Prime Minister Mette Frederiksen he said earlier this month that a US military move to take control of Greenland would lead to the end of the NATO military alliance. Denmark is a member of NATO, and Article 5 of NATO states that if a NATO alliance is attacked, all members will consider it as an attack and do what they need to help the attacked nation.
“This would be a disaster,” Kaine said on “Face the Nation with Margaret Brennan.” It will not be the end of NATO, it will be only America. “
