US Vice President JD Vance on Thursday accused Denmark — a fellow NATO member — and the rest of Europe of failing to protect Greenland from the intentions of Russia and China.
"I guess my advice to European leaders and anybody else would be to take the president of the United States seriously," Vance told journalists at the White House when asked about Greenland.
After the US military successfully captured Venezuela's leader Nicolas Maduro last weekend, US President Donald Trump renewed his push to acquire Greenland, with the use of military force not out of the question.
Vance especially urged Europe to respond to Trump's insistence that the United States needs the island for "missile defense."
"So what we're asking our European friends to do is to take the security of that land mass more seriously, because if they're not, the United States is going to have to do something about it," he said.
Trump wants US to own Greenland
The United States is a party to the 1951 treaty that grants it the right to establish military bases in Greenland with Denmark's consent. The US operates the Pituffik Space Base under the agreement.
However, in a New York Times interview published Thursday, Trump said that he wants to own Greenland instead of just exercising a long-standing treaty that gives the United States wide latitude to use Greenland for military bases.
"I think that ownership gives you a thing that you can't do with, you're talking about a lease or a treaty. Ownership gives you things and elements that you can't get from just signing a document," Trump told the newspaper.
US officials meet with Denmark, Greenland envoys
Meanwhile, according to an Associated Press report, Denmark's ambassador to the United States, Jesper Moller Sorensen, and Jacob Isbosethsen, Greenland's chief representative in Washington, met with White House National Security Council officials on Thursday to discuss Trump's renewed push to take over Greenland.
AP cited Danish government officials who were not authorized to comment publicly and spoke on condition of anonymity.
This week, the envoys reportedly held a series of meetings with American lawmakers as they sought help in persuading Trump to back off his threat. US Secretary of State Marco Rubio is expected to meet with Danish officials next week.
On Thursday, Danish Defense Minister Troels Lund Poulsen told Danish broadcaster DR that talks with the US are an opportunity for "the dialogue that is needed" regarding Greenland.
