US Secretary of State Marco Rubio told lawmakers Tuesday that President Donald Trump aims to buy Greenland \u2014 a semi-autonomous region of fellow NATO member Denmark \u2014 and is not planning an imminent military invasion, according to a media report.
\nRubio, the top American diplomat, made his remarks in a briefing on Monday with lawmakers from the main armed services and foreign policy committees in both chambers of Congress, The New York Times reported.
\nThe same day, Trump asked his aides to give him an updated plan for acquiring the territory, the newspaper reported citing US officials.
\nThe congressional briefing was focused on Venezuela, but lawmakers raised concerns about Trump\u2019s intentions on Greenland given aggressive remarks this week by the American president and a top aide, Stephen Miller, the Times said.
\nRubio did not go into detail on what he meant by buying Greenland. 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. Trump has coveted Greenland since his first term.
\nRepublican Senator Lindsey Graham said the administration\u2019s approach to Greenland \u201cis all about negotiations,\u201d adding that the US needs \u201clegal control and legal protections\u201d to justify building up the territory and putting Americans on the ground, according to the report.<\/p>\n
Meanwhile, the White House said on Tuesday that the Trump administration was discussing a \u201crange of options\u201d for acquiring Greenland, including utilizing the US military.
\n\u201cPresident Trump has made it well known that acquiring Greenland is a national security priority of the United States, and it\u2019s vital to deter our adversaries in the Arctic region,\u201d White House spokeswoman Karoline Leavitt said.
\n\u201cThe President and his team are discussing a range of options to pursue this important foreign policy goal, and of course, utilizing the U.S. Military is always an option at the Commander in Chief\u2019s disposal,\u201d Leavitt added.
\nThe statement came following Trump\u2019s repeated proposals to acquire the island for strategic purposes.
\nA day after the US military operation in Venezuela that captured President Nicolas Maduro Saturday, Trump renewed his call for a takeover of Greenland in the interest of \u201cnational security.\u201d
\nOn Sunday, Trump told reporters aboard Air Force One that \u201cGreenland is covered with Russian and Chinese ships all over the place.\u201d
\n\u201cWe need Greenland, from the standpoint of national security, and Denmark is not going to be able to do it,\u201d he had said when asked about any potential US action against Greenland.
\nGreenland is an autonomous territory within the Kingdom of Denmark and has repeatedly rejected proposals suggesting any transfer of sovereignty to the US.<\/p>\n
Denmark\u2019s Prime Minister Mette Frederiksen has urged Trump to \u201cstop the threats.\u201d
\nThe Danish statement came hours after European leaders issued a joint statement rallying behind Denmark. The nations that aligned with Denmark were Britain, France, Germany, Italy, Spain and Poland, all of which are close allies of the United States.
\n\u201cSecurity 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. Charter, including sovereignty, territorial integrity and the inviolability of borders,\u201d they said. \u201cThese are universal principles, and we will not stop defending them.\u201d
\n\u201cGreenland belongs to its people,\u201d they added. \u201cIt is for Denmark and Greenland, and them only, to decide on matters concerning Denmark and Greenland.\u201d
\nSome lawmakers voiced concern about Trump\u2019s stated plans. On Tuesday evening, Senator Jeanne Shaheen, a Democrat, and Senator Thom Tillis, a Republican, issued a joint statement saying the U.S. government must respect its allies.
\n\u201cWhen Denmark and Greenland make it clear that Greenland is not for sale, the United States must honour its treaty obligations and respect the sovereignty and territorial integrity of the Kingdom of Denmark,\u201d said the senators, who lead the Senate NATO Observer Group.
\n\u201cAny suggestion that our nation would subject a fellow NATO ally to coercion or external pressure undermines the very principles of self-determination that our alliance exists to defend,\u201d they added.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
US Secretary of State Marco Rubio told lawmakers Tuesday that President Donald Trump aims to buy Greenland \u2014 a semi-autonomous region of fellow NATO member Denmark \u2014 and is not planning an imminent military invasion, according to a media report. Rubio, the top American diplomat, made his remarks in a briefing on Monday with lawmakers […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":470248,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[6],"tags":[],"class_list":{"0":"post-524215","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-world"},"yoast_head":"\n