Race for Greenland

US officials are rushing to come up with options for business deals and other ways to step up links to Greenland, taken by surprise by President Donald Trump’s renewed demand to take over the island, people familiar with the matter said.

Trump has long wanted the territory for what he says are security reasons. But after a flurry of activity on the issue early last year, including a trip there by his vice president, once-urgent efforts to realize the president’s vision moved to the back burner, according to the people, who asked not to be identified speaking about matters that aren’t public.

But his sudden flurry of public comments about taking Greenland in the days following the US operation to capture former Venezuelan strongman Nicolas Maduro on Jan. 3 has made the issue a top priority again. On Tuesday, the White House said it wouldn’t rule out military action, while European leaders issued an unprecedented warning to dissuade Washington from trying to seize territory from a NATO ally.

For the moment, US officials are focused on potential business deals to give the US a greater footprint on the island, according to people close to the process. Those include rare earth minerals mining projects, as well as hydroelectric power and other ventures. But these projects likely aren’t far enough along to satisfy Trump’s desire for dramatic results quickly, the people said.

More ambitious ideas to bring Greenland closer to the US politically haven’t progressed amid the cool reception from the government there and in Denmark, the people said.

“President Trump has been talking about the United States acquiring Greenland for over a year – even prior to taking office this term,” White House spokeswoman Anna Kelly said in response to a request for comment. “All core members of the President’s national security team are apprised of all major foreign policy updates. For obvious reasons, people who do not respect operational security and whine to Bloomberg with outright lies are not part of that group.”

The use of force to take Greenland isn’t under serious consideration, according to the people familiar with the situation. Senior Republicans also have sought to push back this week against the idea that the US is considering military action.

“We are not looking at doing a military operation” in Greenland, Senator Roger Wicker, chairman of the Senate Armed Service Committee, told reporters Wednesday. “It would be great if Greenland decided they wanted to become a part of the United States, and if Denmark said we understand the reason why you want it. Let’s make a deal, but it would only be under appropriate conditions.”

But Denmark, which has controlled Greenland as a territory since 1953, has rejected giving it up, brushing off a proposal from Trump in his first term to buy the island. Copenhagen’s offers to allow the US a greater military and economic presence there haven’t satisfied the Trump administration.

White House spokeswoman Karoline Leavitt said Wednesday that buying the island is still on the table, as well. “His team is currently talking about what a potential purchase would look like,” she said.

Among the other ideas the White House has considered is a Compact of Free Association, a deal along the lines of agreements the US has with Pacific island nations, according to people close to the process. That would likely require Denmark to give up control, however.

European officials have struggled to keep up with the often-conflicting signals from the US administration. After reports emerged Tuesday that Secretary of State Marco Rubio had told top legislators, including Wicker, in a closed-door meeting that the administration was still seeking to buy Greenland, a top Republican on Capitol Hill played that down Wednesday.

“It was a joke, he was trying to be humorous about it,” House Speaker Mike Johnson told reporters. “Do we know if there’s going to be some sort of financial arrangement in these negotiations? I mean, none of us know. But Marco did not go in to the Gang of Eight and say, ‘We’re going to buy Greenland.’”

“The next two weeks, they’re critical,” Lars-Christian Brask, vice-chairman of the Danish foreign policy committee, told Bloomberg TV in an interview. “But let’s get the meeting with the three foreign ministers together, clear up the misunderstandings, try to understand what it is everybody wants to achieve, and then I’m sure we are more informed and there’s less misinformation after that meeting.”

Lars-Christian Brask, Danish Parliament deputy speaker, discusses US President Donald Trump’s recent comments about acquiring Greenland as a national security priority. “One NATO country doesn’t go and require territory of another NATO country,” Brask tells Bloomberg Television. “It’s unheard of and it’s disrespectful,” he adds.

Trump has cited heightened naval and other activity around Greenland by China and Russia to justify his calls for US control. Danish and Greenlandic officials argue those fears are overstated and have offered to let the US add to its military presence there.

“Greenland is covered with Russian and Chinese ships all over the place,” Trump said Sunday. “We need Greenland, from the standpoint of national security, and Denmark is not going to be able to do it, I can tell you.”

He put a timeline of two weeks to 20 days for dealing with the issue.

Trump first put forward the idea of buying Greenland in 2019, during his first term as president. Since returning to the White House, he’s stepped up his rhetoric. In December, a Danish intelligence agency for the first time described the US as a potential security risk.

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