Washington, Jan 12 (.) White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt said on Monday that there is no “timeline” for the US to acquire Greenland, but it was a “priority”, even as a House Republican is pushing for Greenland to become the country’s 51st state.
“[President Trump] has not set a timeline but it’s definitely a priority for him,” Leavitt told reporters at the White House.
Rep. Randy Fine, R-Fla., is set to introduce a bill aimed at authorizing Trump “to take such steps as may be necessary” to acquire Greenland and set it on the pathway of becoming part of the United States.
“I think it is in the world’s interest for the United States to exert sovereignty over Greenland,” Fine told Fox News Digital in an interview.
“Congress would still have to choose to make it a state, but this would simply authorize the president to do what he’s doing and say the Congress stands behind him. And then it would expedite it into becoming a state, but it would still be up to Congress about whether to do that.”
Leavitt said in her Monday briefing: “I think the president was very clear last night. He said that he wants to see the United States acquire Greenland because he feels if we do not then it will eventually be acquired or even perhaps hostilely taken over by either China or Russia, which is not a good thing for the United States or for Europe or for Greenland as well.”
“Let’s not forget, it would not just be in the best interest of the United States but perhaps it would be in the best interest of Greenland as well to be a part of the United States and protected by the United States,” she continued.
Trump told reporters on Air Force One on Sunday evening that the US will have Greenland “one way or another.”
While Trump and his allies maintain the US should own the Danish territory for national security purposes, Greenland, Denmark, and other US allies have come out against such a move.
Greenlandic Prime Minister Jens-Frederik Nielsen and four party leaders said on Friday that the island’s future “must be decided by the Greenlandic people.”
That followed Danish Prime Minister Mette Frederiksen telling Danish broadcaster TV2 on Monday that an American attack on Greenland would end NATO. “If the U.S. chooses to attack another NATO country militarily, everything stops,” she said.
European leaders, including U.K. Prime Minister Keir Starmer and French President Emmanuel Macron, also joined Frederiksen in saying that Greenland “belongs to its people.”
“It is for Denmark and Greenland, and them only, to decide on matters concerning Denmark and Greenland,” they wrote Tuesday in a joint statement.
Secretary of State Marco Rubio said Wednesday that he would be meeting with officials from Denmark this week to discuss Greenland.
Trump has publicly pushed for the idea of the U.S. buying the Arctic island territory since his first term in the White House. He and other Republican officials have pointed out its strategic importance, including Greenland’s proximity to Russia and the critical minerals located within its borders.
. XC .