WASHINGTON: US President Donald Trump is discussing options, including military action, to take control of Greenland, the White House said Tuesday, upping tensions that Denmark warns could destroy the NATO alliance. Trump has stepped up his designs on the mineral-rich, self-governing Danish territory in the Arctic since the US military operation to seize Venezuelan leader Nicolas Maduro last weekend. &lsquo;Always an option&rsquo;&nbsp;White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt said that &quot;acquiring Greenland is a national security priority&quot; for Trump to deter adversaries such as Russia and China. &quot;The president and his team are discussing a range of options to pursue this important foreign policy goal, and of course, utilizing the US military is always an option at the commander in chief&#39;s disposal,&quot; she said in a statement to AFP. The Wall Street Journal reported that US Secretary of State Marco Rubio told lawmakers that Trump&#39;s preferred option is to buy Greenland from Denmark, adding that the threats did not signal an imminent invasion. &lsquo;Everything would stop&rsquo;Denmark has warned that any attempt to seize Greenland by force would mean &quot;everything would stop,&quot; including NATO and 80 years of close transatlantic security links. Any US military action against Greenland would effectively collapse NATO, since the alliance&#39;s Article Five pledges that member states will defend any of their number that come under attack. Greenland and Denmark said earlier that they had asked to meet Rubio quickly as tensions rose over the issue. &lsquo;Not for sale&rsquo;&quot;It has so far not been possible,&quot; Greenland&#39;s Foreign Minister Vivian Motzfeldt wrote on social media, adding that they had been pushing for a meeting throughout 2025. Denmark&#39;s Foreign Minister Lars Lokke Rasmussen said meeting Rubio should &quot;clear up certain misunderstandings.&quot; Greenland Prime Minister Jens-Frederik Nielsen earlier insisted that the island was not for sale, and that only its 57,000 people should decide its future. &#39;Not acceptable&#39;&nbsp;Allies have rallied around Denmark and Greenland while trying not to antagonize Trump. The leaders of Britain, France, Germany, Italy, Poland, and Spain joined Denmark in a statement on Tuesday saying that they would defend the &quot;universal principles&quot; of &quot;sovereignty, territorial integrity and the inviolability of borders.&quot; French President Emmanuel Macron and British Prime Minister Keir Starmer both sought to play down the row as they attended Ukraine peace talks in Paris alongside Trump&#39;s envoy Steve Witkoff and son-in-law Jared Kushner. &quot;I cannot imagine a scenario in which the United States of America would be placed in a position to violate Danish sovereignty,&quot; Macron said. Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney, whose country Trump earlier this year said should become the 51st state, also weighed in. &quot;The future of Greenland and Denmark is decided solely by the people of Denmark and Greenland,&quot; Carney told reporters in Paris. Military base in GreenlandThe United States already has a military base in Greenland, the Pituffik space base, with around 150 personnel stationed there. Greenland residents have also rejected Trump&#39;s threats. &quot;This is not something we appreciate,&quot; Christian Keldsen, director of the Greenland Business Association, told AFP in the capital Nuuk.&nbsp; &quot;It is not acceptable in the civilized world.&quot; Trump&#39;s Deputy Chief of Staff Stephen Miller told CNN on Monday that &quot;nobody&#39;s going to fight the United States militarily over the future of Greenland!&quot; Copenhagen has, however, invested heavily in security, allocating some 90 billion kroner ($14 billion) in the last year. Trump has been floating the idea of annexing Greenland since his first term. &quot;It&#39;s like a broken record,&quot; Marc Jacobsen, a specialist in security, politics, and diplomacy in the Arctic at the Royal Danish Defence College, told AFP.

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Denmark has warned that any move to take Greenland by force would mean that ‘everything would stop’, including NATO and 80 years of close transatlantic security links.

Trump weighs military option to acquire Greenland: White House

BERLIN: A group of European leaders on Tuesday underlined their support for Denmark after US President Donald Trump again voiced designs on its autonomous Arctic territory of Greenland. The leaders of France, Britain, Germany, Italy, Poland and Spain as well as Denmark said that sovereignty, territorial integrity and the inviolability of borders were &quot;universal principles, and we will not stop defending them&quot;. Washington&#39;s military intervention in Venezuela has reignited fears about Trump&#39;s designs on Greenland, which has untapped rare earth deposits and could be a vital player as polar ice melts, opening up new shipping routes. Greenland is on the shortest route for missiles between Russia and the United States, and Washington already has a military base there. With the situation in Venezuela more pressing, Trump quipped on Sunday that &quot;we&#39;ll worry about Greenland in about two months.&quot; The European leaders&#39; joint statement said: &quot;Arctic security remains a key priority for Europe and it is critical for international and transatlantic security. &quot;NATO has made clear that the Arctic region is a priority and European allies are stepping up. &quot;We and many other allies have increased our presence, activities, and investments to keep the Arctic safe and to deter adversaries.&quot; They stressed that Denmark&mdash;including Greenland&mdash;was part of NATO. &quot;Security in the Arctic must therefore be achieved collectively, in conjunction with NATO allies including the United States, by upholding the principles of the UN Charter, including sovereignty, territorial integrity and the inviolability of borders,&quot; the leaders said. &quot;These are universal principles, and we will not stop defending them.&quot; The statement was signed by British Prime Minister Keir Starmer, Danish Prime Minister Mette Frederiksen, French President Emmanuel Macron, German Chancellor Friedrich Merz, Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni, Polish Prime Minister Donald Tusk, and Spanish Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez. They added that the US was &quot;an essential partner in this endeavor.&quot; &quot;Greenland belongs to its people. It is for Denmark and Greenland, and them only, to decide on matters concerning Denmark and Greenland,&quot; they said. Canadian PM reaffirms supportCanadian Prime Minister Mark Carney also met with the Prime Minister of Denmark, Mette Frederiksen, according to a Canadian government statement. The leaders met on the margins of the Coalition of the Willing meeting in Paris, France. They affirmed their enduring support for Ukraine against Russian aggression and agreed on the imperative of achieving a just and lasting peace in Ukraine, backed by robust security guarantees. Prime Minister Carney emphasized Canada&rsquo;s support for Denmark&#39;s sovereignty and territorial integrity, including Greenland. He affirmed Canada&rsquo;s support for the joint statement on Greenland by Denmark and European leaders.&nbsp; According to the statement, the future of Greenland is for Greenland and Denmark to determine. Canada will continue to work with Denmark, Greenland, and other partners in our shared responsibility for the security and resilience of the Arctic, it added.

A group of European leaders underlined their support for Denmark after US President Donald Trump again voiced designs on its autonomous Arctic territory of Greenland

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Trump weighs military option to acquire Greenland: White House

European leaders rally behind Denmark after Trump claims on Greenland