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ARCHIVE - White House Deputy Chief of Staff Stephen Miller speaks during the signing of a memorandum by US President Trump in the Oval Office of the White House. Photo: Alex Brandon/AP/dpa
Keystone
A senior White House official has described the US claim to control of Greenland, which belongs to Denmark, as the "official position of the US government".
When asked repeatedly by a CNN presenter whether the government was ruling out military action to seize Greenland, US President Donald Trump's deputy chief of staff Stephen Miller said: "Nobody is going to fight the United States militarily over the future of Greenland. That makes no sense."
The USA should "have" Greenland as part of the United States, emphasized Miller. The President had made this very clear since the beginning of his term of office almost a year ago. There is absolutely no need to think about a military operation, Miller told CNN. The USA is the most important military power in NATO and therefore needs control over Greenland in order to secure the Arctic region and thus guarantee the security of the defense alliance, he argued.
Miller also questioned why the autonomously administered Greenland officially belongs to Nato partner Denmark at all. "By what right does Denmark have control over Greenland? What is the basis of its territorial claim? What is the basis for having Greenland as a colony of Denmark?" he asked in the CNN interview.
On Monday, Denmark, its Scandinavian neighbors, Great Britain, Germany and the EU firmly rejected Trump's renewed US claim to Greenland. For Danish Prime Minister Mette Frederiksen, there is no doubt that Trump is serious. "He has said it again and again, directly and indirectly," said Frederiksen in an interview on Danish radio. "But if the US attacks another Nato country, then everything stops," she warned. That would be the end of the Western defense alliance and thus also the security architecture that has existed since the end of the Second World War.
"We are united in NATO in strengthening security in the far north." But you can't just go and take over part of another country's territory, said Frederiksen. Greenland's government also rejects the US territorial claim. Trump has not ruled out the use of military force to incorporate Greenland by the USA in the past.
Greenland is important for the global climate, but also for military control of the Arctic. The island is strategically located between the USA, Russia and Europe and extends far into the Arctic Circle. Due to climate change, the Arctic is becoming increasingly interesting for shipping. Greenland is also believed to contain deposits of important minerals, including rare earths.
The US military has long operated a military base in remote Pituffik, around 1,500 kilometers north of the Greenlandic capital Nuuk. Among other things, it supports missile warning systems as well as missile defense and space surveillance missions.
The island of Greenland, which is largely covered in ice, is around six times the size of Germany. The largest island in the world has more than 44,000 kilometers of coastline. However, only around 57,000 people live in Greenland. The island has enjoyed extensive autonomy within Denmark since 1979.
The latest diplomatic upsets over Greenland initially appeared to have been triggered by a social media post following the US military operation in Venezuela. A post on X by ex-government advisor and influencer Katie Miller - the wife of the Deputy Chief of Staff - featured a map of Greenland in the colors of the US flag. She wrote a single word in capital letters: "SOON".
06.01.2026, 06:00
