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‘We have to have it’: Trump ups the pressure on Greenland

His statement comes as top U.S. officials plan a controversial visit to Greenland, which Danish officials see as part of an intense pressure campaign.

By Danny Nguyen

President Donald Trump is tightening his grip on Greenland, as Vice President JD Vance prepares for a last-minute, uninvited visit later this week.

America has “to let them know that we need Greenland for international safety and security. We need it. We have to have it,” Trump said in an interview with radio host Vince Coglianese on Wednesday. “It’s [an] island from a defensive posture and even offensive posture is something we need. … When you look at the ships going up their shore by the hundreds, it’s a busy place.”

Trump has floated the idea of acquiring Greenland since his first term but has fixated on it in his second administration. If the United States lays claim over the autonomous Danish territory, it will gain control of key shipping annexes and untapped rare earth minerals and energy resources that could change the fabric of global trade.

The president told Coglianese he was unsure if Greenlanders were ready to be citizens of the United States, “but I think we have to do it and convince them, and we have to have the land because it’s not possible to properly defend a large section of this Earth — not just the U.S. — without it. So we have to have it, and I think we will have it.”

The statement comes as senior Trump administration officials plan a visit to the island. Second lady Usha Vance and other senior officials were initially scheduled to go to the country for its dog-sled race — a visit Denmark’s Prime Minister Mette Frederiksen said placed “unacceptable pressure” on Greenland to cede its territory to the U.S.

“This is clearly not a visit that is about what Greenland needs or wants,” Frederiksen said Monday about the trip. “It is unacceptable pressure being put on Greenland and Denmark in this situation. And it’s a pressure we will stand against.”

The vice president said Tuesday that he would be joining the trip — visiting a military base instead of the race — becoming the highest-ranking U.S. official to make the trip.

Danish officials cautiously welcomed the scaled-back itinerary, despite the additional importance the visit from Vance himself places on the trip.

“I think it’s a much wiser decision to visit the military installation than to interfere in what is happening in Greenlandic politics — in a situation where no government has been formed,” Danish Defense Minister Troels Lund Poulsen said.