President Donald Trump has again elevated Greenland to a central place in his foreign policy, renewing a long-running push that has unsettled US allies. The latest move came with the appointment of Louisiana Gov. Jeff Landry as special envoy to Greenland, charged with advancing Trump’s goal of bringing the territory under US control. Trump has argued the island is vital for American national security.
Denmark and Greenland swiftly rejected the idea, issuing a joint statement underscoring that sovereignty and borders are protected by international law. Other European leaders, including French President Emmanuel Macron, voiced support for Denmark and Greenland.
Trump has floated buying or annexing Greenland since his first term, but his rhetoric has intensified during his second. The renewed focus reflects the administration’s National Security Strategy, which emphasizes US dominance in the Western Hemisphere and limiting Chinese and Russian influence, particularly in the Arctic. While US officials already enjoy close military cooperation with Greenland and Denmark, Trump’s approach has raised fresh concerns about relations with America’s allies.
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Can Congress stop Trump from trying to take Greenland?
Trump’s Greenland push, briefly explained
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Welcome to The Logoff: Hi readers, this has been a breakneck news week. Here’s one big story that shouldn’t get lost in the shuffle: After Venezuela, President Donald Trump is turning his gaze to Greenland.
Can anyone stop Trump from seizing Greenland?
No one is laughing about Greenland anymore.
President Donald Trump’s frequently expressed desire for the US to take possession of the world’s largest island may once have been treated as a lark, troll, or distraction, but following last week’s capture of Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro, it’s become clear that Trump is increasingly acquiring a taste for military action and that he is even less constrained by international norms than previously thought.
The one line that Trump’s foreign policy still hasn’t crossed
After illegally invading Venezuela — and capturing its dictatorial leader — President Donald Trump is threatening to launch similar attacks against a wide array of countries.
On Sunday, he reiterated his belief that the United States must annex Greenland, since its waters are “covered with Russian and Chinese ships.” He further declared that the US may take military action against Colombia, as its president “has cocaine mills and cocaine factories.” Mexico may also warrant a bombing, Trump suggested, in light of its failure to police its cartels. And he also warned Iran’s authoritarian regime that, if it starts killing the protesters who’ve recently amassed in its streets, “they’re going to get hit very hard by the United States.”
Trump is talking about Greenland again
2025 is ending much as it began: with President Donald Trump talking about annexing Greenland.
On Sunday, Trump appointed Louisiana Gov. Jeff Landry as a special envoy to Greenland with the goal, as Landry put it, “to make Greenland a part of the US.” Though the territory has been moving gradually toward greater independence, Greenland has been under Danish rule since the 18th century. “We need Greenland for national protection,” Trump told reporters on Monday.
How Greenland feels about Trump, explained by a Greenlander
Greenland is the world’s largest non-continental island, and it takes up space rent-free in President Donald Trump’s head.
Since 2019, Trump has floated the idea of the US acquiring Greenland, a sovereign Danish territory, in the name of American national security and economic interests. The idea was short-lived when Trump first raised it, but returned with force late last year.
The real danger of Trump’s Greenland gambit
It is an era of superpower conflict and competition for natural resources. Newly accessible sea routes are transforming the world’s political geography. The US government eyes a strategically located island territory, currently under the control of the Kingdom of Denmark, which Washington believes is necessary for its national security and economic interests. After first making an offer to buy the territory — one rejected by Copenhagen — the US suggests that it won’t rule out the use of military force to take it. The Danes, in response, grudgingly take the deal.
The year is 1915 and the territory in question is the Danish West Indies, known today as the US Virgin Islands. In the wake of the sinking of the passenger ship Lusitania by German submarines, President Woodrow Wilson’s administration wanted control of the Caribbean islands out of fear they could be annexed by Germany, and used as a base to attack shipping through the recently opened Panama Canal. That deal – which was finalized in 1917 for $25 million, or a bit less than $600 million in today’s money — was the last major territorial purchase by the United States.
