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The Pentagon said on Wednesday it was “not aware” of any plans to invade Greenland if ordered to, after President-elect Trump a day earlier refused to rule out using military force to seize the autonomous territory from Denmark
“I certainly won’t get into hypothetical situations. I think that’s for the incoming administration,” Deputy Press Secretary Sabrina Singh told reporters when asked about any contingency plans.
“We are concerned about the real national security concerns that face this building every day,” he added, noting U.S. support for Ukraine in its fight against Russia, efforts to quell conflicts in the Middle East and the challenges against China in the Indo. peaceful
Asked if the Pentagon had ever drawn up a plan to take Greenland militarily, Singh said he was “not aware of any plan to do so.”
Trump, at a press conference Tuesday at his Mar-a-Lago estate in Florida, said the United States needs both Greenland and the Panama Canal for national and economic security, but he has not laid out any concrete plans to acquire one.
“People really don’t even know if Denmark has any legal rights, but if they do, they should give it up, because we need it for national security,” Trump said, referring to Greenland.
Asked if he could rule out military action or economic coercion to win over both countries, he replied: “I can’t assure you about either of those.”
“I’m not going to engage on that. Now you might have to do something,” Trump said.
Trump in his first term reflected on the purchase of Greenland from Denmark, which has been unified with the territory for more than 200 years. At the time, the Danish prime minister rejected it, calling the thought “absurd”.
But the incoming president seems much more fixated on the idea this time around, with his son, Donald Trump Jr., visiting the island of 57,000 people on Monday in a trip that didn’t involve any official government meetings.
The island is considered valuable to US national security interests given its proximity to Russia and China’s ever-increasing activities in the Arctic.
The United States last tried to buy Greenland in 1946, when it offered Denmark $100 million in gold, a deal the country rejected.
The US has a military base on the island known as Pituffik Space Base. The facility includes a year-round airfield and is part of the mutual defense agreements between Washington and Copenhagen.
Asked about Trump’s comments, outgoing Secretary of State Antony Blinken said Wednesday that “the idea expressed about Greenland is obviously not good, but maybe more importantly, it’s obviously not going to happen, so we probably shouldn’t lose a lot of time. talking about it.”
