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By Ellie Cook
Senior Defense Reporter
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President Donald Trump has doubled down on threats to move against Greenland, the Arctic territory officially part of Denmark he has long coveted.
And Danish officials have cause to be worried, experts and former U.S. officials warn, even if the administration is still seen as unlikely to mount an attack on the sparsely populated strategic island anytime soon.
Fresh concerns come off the back of the U.S. operation to capture Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro and his wife, Cilia Flores, pulling the pair from Caracas under a flurry of explosions in the early hours of Saturday. The U.S.'s top soldier, General Dan Caine, hailed the complex mission as "unprecedented" and a feat only U.S. forces could achieve.
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In the hours that followed, the Trump administration refused to dismiss the possibility of actions against other nations, both friend and foe alike. Trump suggested to reporters aboard Air Force One on Sunday that Cuba could be on the brink of collapse and is "going down for the count," while insisting Mexico "has to get their act together."
Colombia, a longtime ally of the U.S. in South America is "very sick," and action against Bogota "sounds good to me," he added. Trump has for months publicly traded barbs with Colombia's leftist leader, Gustavo Petro.
But Trump's most anxiety-inducing remarks for NATO members came on the topic of Greenland, further deepening tensions with Denmark and spurring on harsher rebuffs from Danish and Greenlandic officials.
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What Has Trump Said About Greenland?
Asked if he expected to take action against Greenland, Trump said on Sunday: "Let's talk about Venezuela, Russia, Ukraine. We'll worry about Greenland in about two months. Let's talk about Greenland in 20 days."
Trump said Greenland is critical for U.S. national security and Denmark "is not going to be able to do it."
When Vice President JD Vance visited Greenland last March, he accused Copenhagen of underinvesting in the country and not doing "a good job by the people of Greenland."
The Arctic expanse is rich in minerals and is home to Pituffik, a U.S. space base vital for picking up long-range missiles launched toward the U.S.
The Arctic in general is garnering more and more attention, not just from the states with Arctic coastlines, but from further-flung nations, too. China has declared itself a "near Arctic" state and Russia, the dominant Arctic power, has been heavily investing in its footprint in the region.
Climate change is opening up new routes for civilian and military vessels and offering up more opportunities to extract natural resources.
"Right now, Greenland is covered with Russian and Chinese ships all over the place," Trump said on Sunday.
A year ago, the idea of the U.S. attacking Greenland would have been laughable, Robert Kelly, a former U.S. deputy assistant secretary of defense for drug enforcement who served in the Reagan and George H.W. Bush administrations, told Newsweek. "I'm not laughing anymore."
"Anytime any nation talks about the sovereignty of another nation, you should be worried," John Feeley, a former U.S. ambassador to Panama who was nominated by President Barack Obama, added. "But do I think they have legitimate cause to fear an invasion anytime soon? No."
Unlike Venezuela, Cuba, Mexico and Colombia, Denmark is a NATO country, meaning it's protected by Article 5 in the alliance's founding treaty. This means any attack on a member state is considered an attack on all, and each country will respond accordingly.
The U.S. is the most powerful country in NATO, and much of the alliance's deterrence power rests on its vast nuclear arsenal. For the U.S. to possibly turn its military on another NATO state would undermine the alliance.
"I find it almost unfathomable that the United States would have a presidency occupied by a man or woman that would even begin to think that it would be in our interest, security-wise," Joe Sestak, a retired U.S. Navy rear admiral and former director for Defense Policy on the National Security Council staff under President Bill Clinton, told Newsweek. "The damage it would do would be total."
Denmark does have reason to be "worried," although Trump is likely to leverage his threats to produce economic deals favorable to the U.S. rather than annex Greenland, Christopher Sabatini, a senior fellow with the Chatham House think tank, said.
But Greenland is "undefended," Feeley told Newsweek. "We could easily send an occupation force to Greenland tomorrow."
"I understand why Denmark is concerned and I don't minimize the legitimacy of their concern, but I'm still not ready to say that you're going to see American troops in white camouflage parading into C-17 Globemasters to fly north," he added. C-17s are large military transport aircraft.
Louisiana Governor Jeff Landry, a Republican appointed by Trump as the administration's special envoy for Greenland last month, said in his first remarks on his new position that he intended to "make Greenland a part of the U.S." He, however, did not elaborate on what this might entail, but added the role “in no way affects” his duties as governor.
How Has Denmark Responded?
Greenland's Prime Minister Jens-Frederik Nielsen switched from statements largely playing down tensions with the U.S. to condemn on Sunday what he called "completely and utterly unacceptable" U.S. rhetoric.
"This is enough," Nielsen said. "When the president of the United States talks about 'we need Greenland' and connects us with Venezuela and military intervention, it's not just wrong. This is so disrespectful."
Danish Prime Minister Mette Frederiksen said on Sunday she would "strongly urge the United States to stop the threats against a historically close ally and against another country and another people who have very clearly said that they are not for sale."
In fresh comments on Monday, Frederiksen said she believed Trump "should be taken seriously when he says he wants Greenland."
"If the United States attacks another NATO country, everything stops," she told Denmark's DR broadcaster.
Katie Miller, a longstanding MAGA voice and the wife of White House deputy chief of staff Stephen Miller, had posted an image to social media on Saturday that showed the American flag overlaid on an outline of Greenland with the caption "SOON." Miller's post came shortly after the U.S. operation in Venezuela.
Jesper Møller Sørensen, the Danish ambassador to the U.S., directly responded to the post with a plea for Washington to "respect" Denmark's territory.
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