Media: US officials scramble to advance Trump’s Greenland plans

Senior US officials are scrambling to devise business and investment options to strengthen ties with Greenland after President Donald Trump renewed his call for the United States to take over the island, people familiar with the matter have told Bloomberg.

Mr Trump, who has publicly advocated acquiring the vast Arctic territory for what he calls strategic reasons, has thrust the issue back onto the US foreign policy agenda in recent days following the operation to capture former Venezuelan leader Nicolás Maduro.

Officials were reportedly caught off guard by the president’s resurgence of comments about Greenland, which is a self‑governing territory within the Kingdom of Denmark.

For now, attention has turned to potential commercial ventures to strengthen America’s footprint on the island, including rare earth mineral mining and hydroelectric power projects. But sources say these initiatives are unlikely to deliver the dramatic results Mr Trump seeks on the accelerated timeline he appears to want.

More far‑reaching proposals to draw Greenland closer to the US politically have not advanced, owing in part to a cool response from both Greenland’s own government and Copenhagen, the sources said.

A White House spokeswoman responded to requests for comment, saying: “President Trump has been talking about the United States acquiring Greenland for over a year – even prior to taking office this term. 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.”

Officials familiar with the situation told Bloomberg that the use of force to take Greenland isn’t under serious consideration, and several senior Republicans have publicly rejected the notion of a military operation.

Senator Roger Wicker, chairman of the Senate Armed Services Committee, was quoted as saying: “We are not looking at doing a military operation … 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.”

By Aghakazim Guliyev