Rubio Says Trump Plans to Buy Greenland; White House Says Invasion Not Ruled Out

Secretary of State Marco Rubio told lawmakers on Monday that President Trump plans to buy Greenland rather than invade it, and Mr. Trump on the same day asked aides for an updated plan to acquire the territory, U.S. officials said on Tuesday. Mr. Rubio made the remarks in a briefing that was focused on Venezuela with lawmakers from the main armed services and foreign policy committees; lawmakers raised concerns about Mr.

Trump’s intentions on Greenland given aggressive remarks this week by the president and a top aide, Stephen Miller, two officials said. Mr. Rubio did not go into detail on what he meant by buying Greenland. Mr. Trump spent decades in New York as a real estate developer, and one of his top diplomatic envoys, Steve Witkoff, comes from the same background.

Mr. Trump has coveted Greenland since his first term. Greenland is a sparsely populated autonomous territory that is ruled by Denmark. On Tuesday, leaders of six NATO nations joined with Mette Frederiksen, the prime minister of Denmark, to issue a remarkable joint statement pushing back against Mr.

Trump’s assertions that the United States should take over Greenland. The nations that aligned with Denmark were Britain, France, Germany, Italy, Spain and Poland. “Security in the Arctic must therefore be achieved collectively, in conjunction with NATO allies including the United States, by upholding the principles of the U.N.

Key Topics

Politics, Donald Trump, Greenland, Marco Rubio, Denmark, Nato