{"id":110597,"date":"2026-01-10T04:50:17","date_gmt":"2026-01-10T04:50:17","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/sotnews.agency\/?p=110597"},"modified":"2026-01-10T04:50:17","modified_gmt":"2026-01-10T04:50:17","slug":"trump-says-us-needs-to-own-greenland-to-prevent-russia-and-china-from-taking-it","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/sotnews.agency\/?p=110597","title":{"rendered":"Trump says US needs to \u2018own\u2019 Greenland to prevent Russia and China from taking it"},"content":{"rendered":"
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\n \t<\/i> Read Time:<\/span>2 Minute, 51 Second <\/div>\n\n <\/div>
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President Donald Trump says the US needs to \u201cown\u201d Greenland to prevent Russia and China from doing so.<\/p>\n

\u201cCountries have to have ownership and you defend ownership, you don\u2019t defend leases. And we\u2019ll have to defend Greenland,\u201d Trump told reporters on Friday, in response to a question from the BBC.<\/p>\n

We will do it \u201cthe easy way\u201d or \u201cthe hard way\u201d, he added. The White House said recently the administration is considering buying the semi-autonomous territory of fellow Nato member Denmark, but it would not rule out the option of annexing it by force.<\/p>\n

Denmark and Greenland say the territory is not for sale. Denmark has said military action would spell the end of the trans-Atlantic defence alliance.<\/p>\n

Despite being the most sparsely populated territory, Greenland\u2019s location between North America and the Arctic makes it well placed for early warning systems in the event of missile attacks, and for monitoring vessels in the region.<\/p>\n

The US president has repeatedly said that Greenland is vital to US national security, claiming without evidence that it was \u201ccovered with Russian and Chinese ships all over the place\u201d.<\/p>\n

The US already has more than 100 military personnel permanently stationed at its Pituffik base in Greenland\u2019s north-western tip \u2013 a facility that has been operated by the US since World War Two.<\/p>\n

Under existing agreements with Denmark, the US has the power to bring as many troops as it wants to Greenland.<\/p>\n

But speaking to reporters in Washington, Trump said a lease agreement was not good enough.<\/p>\n

\u201cCountries can\u2019t make nine-year deals or even 100-year deals,\u201d he said, adding that they had to have ownership.<\/p>\n

\u201cI love the people of China. I love the people of Russia,\u201d Trump said. \u201cBut I don\u2019t want them as a neighbour in Greenland, not going to happen.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cAnd by the way Nato\u2019s got to understand that,\u201d the US president added.<\/p>\n

Denmark\u2019s Nato allies \u2013 major European countries as well as Canada \u2013 have rallied to its support this week with statements reaffirming that \u201conly Denmark and Greenland can decide on matters concerning their relations\u201d.<\/p>\n

Stressing they were as keen as the US on Arctic security, they have said this must be achieved by allies, including the US, \u201ccollectively\u201d.<\/p>\n

They also called for \u201cupholding the principles of the UN Charter, including sovereignty, territorial integrity and the inviolability of borders\u201d.<\/p>\n

Concerns over the future of the territory resurfaced after Trump\u2019s use of military force against Venezuela on Saturday to seize its president, Nicol\u00e1s Maduro.<\/p>\n

Trump previously made an offer to buy the island in 2019, during his first presidential term, only to be told it was not for sale.<\/p>\n

US Secretary of State Marco Rubio is to hold talks with Denmark next week.<\/p>\n

In recent years, there has also been increased interest in Greenland\u2019s natural resources \u2013 including rare earth minerals, uranium and iron \u2013 which are becoming easier to access as its ice melts due to climate change. Scientists think it could also have significant oil and gas reserves.<\/p>\n

In a joint statement on Friday night, Greenland\u2019s party leaders, including the opposition, reiterated their call for the \u201cUS\u2019s disregard for our country to end\u201d.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe do not want to be Americans, we do not want to be Danes, we want to be Greenlanders,\u201d they said. \u201cThe future of Greenland must be decided by the Greenlandic people.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

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\"TrumpPresident Donald Trump says the US needs to “own” Greenland to prevent Russia and China from doing so.<\/div>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"rop_custom_images_group":[],"rop_custom_messages_group":[],"rop_publish_now":"initial","rop_publish_now_accounts":{"facebook_2277560469115098_106292521332774":"","twitter_aToxNzczMzI3Njk4OTg4ODUxMjAxOw==_1773327698988851200":""},"rop_publish_now_history":[],"rop_publish_now_status":"pending","_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[2019,1910,117,10,9,2286],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-110597","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-hp-news-10","category-international","category-news","category-politics","category-popular","category-trump"],"aioseo_notices":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/sotnews.agency\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/110597","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/sotnews.agency\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/sotnews.agency\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sotnews.agency\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sotnews.agency\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=110597"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/sotnews.agency\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/110597\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/sotnews.agency\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=110597"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sotnews.agency\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=110597"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sotnews.agency\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=110597"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}