US discussing options to acquire Greenland including using military, White House says

US President Donald Trump has been discussing "a range of options" to acquire Greenland, including use of the military, the White House said.

The White House told the BBC that acquiring Greenland - a semi-autonomous region of fellow Nato member Denmark – was a "national security priority".

The statement came hours after European leaders issued a joint statement rallying behind Denmark, which has been pushing back against Trump's ambitions for the Arctic island.

Trump repeated that the US "needed" Greenland for security reasons over the weekend, prompting Danish Prime Minister Mette Frederiksen to warn that any attack by the US would spell the end of Nato.

The White House said on Tuesday: "The president and his team are discussing a range of options to pursue this important foreign policy goal, and of course, utilising the US military is always an option at the commander-in-chief's disposal."

Nato is a trans-Atlantic military group in which allies are expected to go to each other's aid in case of external attacks.

US Secretary of State Marco Rubio also told lawmakers at a classified briefing on Capitol Hill on Monday that the Trump administration did not plan to invade Greenland, but he mentioned instead buying the island from Denmark, the Wall Street Journal and other US media reported.

Then on Tuesday, a state department spokesperson told the BBC that the US was "eager to build lasting commercial relationships that benefit Americans and the people of Greenland".

The spokesperson added: "Our common adversaries have been increasingly active in the Arctic. That is a concern that the United States, the Kingdom of Denmark, and Nato allies share."

Greenland and Denmark previously said they had asked to meet Rubio quickly to discuss the US claims on the island.

Denmark's Foreign Minister Lars Lokke Rasmussen said speaking to America's top diplomat should resolve "certain misunderstandings".

On Tuesday, six European allies expressed support for Denmark.

"Greenland belongs to its people, and only Denmark and Greenland can decide on matters concerning their relations," the leaders of the UK, France, Germany, Italy, Poland, Spain and Denmark said in a joint statement.

Stressing they were as keen as the US in Arctic security, the European signatories said this must be achieved by Nato allies, including the US "collectively".

They also called for "upholding the principles of the UN Charter, including sovereignty, territorial integrity and the inviolability of borders".

Greenland's Prime Minister Jens-Frederik Nielsen welcomed the statement and called for "respectful dialogue".

"The dialogue must take place with respect for the fact that Greenland's status is rooted in international law and the principle of territorial integrity," Nielsen said.

The issue of Greenland's future resurfaced in the wake of the US military intervention in Venezuela, during which elite troops seized the country's President Nicolás Maduro and took him to face drugs and weapons charges in New York.

A day after that raid, Katie Miller - the wife of one of Trump's senior aides - posted a map on social media of Greenland in the colours of the US flag, alongside the word "SOON".

On Monday, her husband, Stephen Miller, said it was "the formal position of the US government that Greenland should be part of the US".

Asked repeatedly in an interview with CNN whether the US would rule out using force to annex it, Miller responded: "Nobody's going to fight the US over the future of Greenland."

Greenland, which has a population of 57,000 people, has had extensive self-government since 1979 - though defence and foreign policy remain in Danish hands.

While most Greenlanders favour eventual independence from Denmark, opinion polls suggest overwhelming opposition to becoming part of the US, which already has a military base on the island.

Morgan Angaju, 27, an Inuit living in Ilulissat in the west region of the country, told the BBC it had been "terrifying to listen to the leader of the free world laughing at Denmark and Greenland and just talking about us like we're something to claim".

"We are already claimed by the Greenlandic people. Kalaallit Nunaat means the land of the Greenlandic people," Morgan said.

He added that he was worried about what happened next - wondering whether Greenland's prime minister may suffer the same fate as Maduro, or even about the US "invading our country".

But Aleqatsiaq Peary, a 42-year-old Inuit hunter living in the remote northerly town of Qaanaaq, appeared indifferent to the potential of US ownership.

"It would be switching from one master to another, from one occupier to another," he told the BBC. "We are a colony under Denmark. We are already losing a lot from being under the Danish government."

But he said: "I don't have time for Trump. Our people are in need," explaining hunters like him hunt with dogs on the sea ice and fish, "but the sea ice is melting and hunters cannot make a living anymore".

An unnamed senior US official told news agency Reuters that the US options included the outright purchase of Greenland or forming a Compact of Free Association - a deal exchanging a military presence for economic benefits - with the territory.

Senator Eric Schmitt, a Republican from Missouri, emphasised the national security aspect when he spoke to the BBC on Tuesday.

"I think they're just in talks right now," he said. "My hope is that Europe would understand that a strong America is good - it's good for Western civilisation."

Trump floated the idea of acquiring Greenland as a strategic US hub in the Arctic during his first presidential term, saying in 2019: "Essentially it's a large real estate deal."

There is growing interest from Russia and China in the island, which has untapped rare earth deposits, as melting ice raises the possibility of new trade routes.

In March, Trump said the US would "go as far as we have to go" to get control of the territory.

During a congressional hearing last summer, US Defence Secretary Pete Hegseth was asked if the Pentagon had plans to take Greenland by force if necessary, and he replied that it had "plans for any contingency".

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