President Donald Trump on Friday continued to press for U.S. management of Greenland, telling reporters: “We’re going to do one thing on Greenland whether or not they prefer it or not.”
“As a result of if we do not do it, Russia or China will take over Greenland, and we’re not going to have Russia or China as a neighbor,” Trump mentioned as he hosted oil executives on the White Home to debate investments in Venezuela.
The president has repeatedly mentioned he needs to take over Greenland both by shopping for the autonomous island territory or through the use of navy drive, calling it a matter of nationwide safety despite fierce pushback from Greenland, Denmark and European allies.
“Greenland just isn’t on the market. I feel our Prime Minister Jens-Frederik Nielsen and our Overseas Minister Vivian Motzfeldt has made it very, very clear. Our nation belongs to the Greenlandic folks,” Jacob Isbosethsen, Greenland’s head of illustration to the USA, mentioned to journalists on Thursday after a closed-door assembly with members of Congress.
When requested on Friday for the way a lot cash he believed it could take to get Greenland on board together with his proposal, Trump mentioned, “I am not speaking about cash for Greenland but. I would discuss that.”
“I would prefer to make a deal, , the simple method. But when we do not do it the simple method, we’re going to do it the laborious method,” Trump mentioned.
President Donald Trump attends a gathering with oil executives within the East Room of the White Home, Jan. 9, 2026, in Washington.
Saul Loeb/AFP by way of Getty Photographs
Excessive-profile Republicans and Democrats on Capitol Hill have additionally poured chilly water on Trump’s goal to amass Greenland.
“I feel it has been made clear from our Danish mates and from our mates in Greenland that that future doesn’t embody a negotiation. There is not any willingness on their half to barter for the acquisition or the change in title to their land, which they’ve had for therefore lengthy,” Sen. Roger Wicker, the highest Republican on the Senate Armed Companies Committee, mentioned after assembly with Isbosethsen and Denmark’s Ambassador to the USA Jesper Møller Sørensen on Thursday.
“There is no such thing as a motive for a negotiation round who controls Greenland as a result of Greenland and the USA and Denmark have been allies. We share the identical values, we’ve labored cooperatively collectively,” Democratic Sen. Jeanne Shaheen, the highest Democrat on the Senate Overseas Relations Committee, mentioned after the assembly.
Homes coated by snow are seen on the coast of a sea inlet of Nuuk, Greenland, March 7, 2025.
Evgeniy Maloletka/AP, Information
Home Speaker Mike Johnson, certainly one of Trump’s high allies, notably dismissed any assertion that the U.S. would use navy motion to amass Greenland.
“I do not suppose anyone’s severely contemplating that. And within the Congress, we’re definitely not,” Johnson mentioned at a information convention on Wednesday.
Nonetheless, Vice President JD Vance on Thursday mentioned to take Trump at his phrase on the difficulty and defended the administration’s curiosity within the island territory.
“I suppose my recommendation to European leaders and anyone else could be to take the president of the USA severely,” Vance advised reporters at a press briefing with White Home press secretary Karoline Leavitt.
“No. 1, Greenland is basically vital, not simply to America’s missile protection, however to the world’s missile protection. No. 2, we all know that there are hostile adversaries which have proven numerous curiosity in that specific territory, that specific slice of the world,” Vance mentioned.
Subsequent week, Secretary of State Marco Rubio is anticipated to fulfill together with his counterparts from Denmark and Greenland after they requested an pressing assembly with him.
ABC Information’ Allison Pecorin and Jay O’Brien contributed to this report.
