Attack? Purchase? Trump administration sends completely contradictory signals

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• Trump's spokeswoman explicitly mentions the deployment of the US military in the Greenland dispute as an option.
• Secretary of State Marco Rubio qualifies this a little later: the aim is a purchase, not an invasion.
• There is also opposition from Congress - Speaker Mike Johnson rejects a military deployment.

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The US government under President Donald Trump is sending contradictory signals in the dispute over Greenland. While government spokeswoman Karoline Leavitt openly describes the deployment of the US military as a possible option, other central figures in the administration are trying to recapture the escalation.

Leavitt explained that the president and his team were looking at "a range of options" to bring Greenland under US control. "Of course, the use of the US military is always an option available to the commander-in-chief," she said. At the same time, she emphasized that it was a "national security priority" of the United States - also with regard to Russia and China in the Arctic.

Contradictions from within her own ranks

However, this was followed shortly afterwards by a different interpretation from Washington. According to theWall Street Journal, Secretary of State Marco Rubio qualified the statements in talks with US MPs.

According to him, the public threats should not be interpreted as a military invasion. Instead, it was still about a possible purchase of Greenland - a project that Trump had already brought into play during his first term in office.

Additional distance came from the US Congress. The Republican Chairman of the House of Representatives, Mike Johnson, said that a military operation to take over Greenland was "not appropriate". He had not recently held any talks with Trump on this topic.

Scandinavian countries fight back

Trump has not forgotten Greenland and still wants the island "absolutely"

The actual line on the Greenland issue therefore remains increasingly unclear. The White House is threatening to use military force, while the State Department and now even Congress are resorting to diplomacy in an attempt to limit the damage.

The European states united behind Greenland on Tuesday. Only Denmark and Greenland would decide on matters concerning Denmark and Greenland, according to a statement signed by German Chancellor Friedrich Merz. "Greenland belongs to its people."