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We start getting emails, we start hearing things that the President has started making comments about Greenland.
President Donald Trump has wanted to gain control of Greenland for years, and after the raid on Venezuela and the capture of President Nicholas Maduro on Saturday, Trump started talking about the idea again.
We need Greenland from the standpoint of national security, and Denmark is not going to be able to do it.
I can tell you.
Other figures in Trump's orbit started talking about Greenland too.
Stephen Miller, who works in the White House his wife Katie Miller, tweeted out a picture of Greenland with an American flag draped all over it, which stirred up a lot of controversy, and then Stephen Miller himself came on later. I believe this is on CNN with one of the reporters, Chike Tapper.
So I know you're treating this as breaking news. The President has been clear for a month now that the United States should be the nation that has Greenland is part of our overall security apparatus.
Some Trump administration officials have since tried to walk back some of the most aggressive rhetoric. Secretary of State Marco Rubio told Will Macers the goal is to buy Greenland from Denmark, but it's a hard belt to unring.
I think the fact that these comments came right after the raid on Venezuela that got officials in Denmark and Greenland they really worried.
Sonovas covers the economy and politics of Denmark and Greenland from Bloomberg's Copenhagen Bureau. She says the substance and the timing of the Trump administration's Greenland comments are being taken very seriously by officials across Europe who are members of the NATO Joint Defense Pact alongside the US.
Suddenly it's gotten Europe worried because Greenland kind of could fall on too. Donald trum reinterpretation of the Monroe Doctrine Benjuela illustrated to everyone that Trump.
Is willing to do things we thought he wouldn't do.
He's willing to break international law to achieve his aims.
The question has been now for years, is that really what they want to do? Here gets a fair conversation to have, especially from the point of view from Danish officials, like if one day you wake up and the President of the United States is saying, we want to own this territory that is actually under your flag.
Right, It's not just rhetoric to that.
It's not just yea. Words mean something like even if Donald Trump is loose with words, they always mean something.
Jodo covers economic and corporate state craft for Bloomberg. He spent a lot of time reporting on Greenland.
You have the Danish premiere saying if there's an attack that would effectively end NATO. So you're starting to get into the territory that like, if we take this all very very seriously, I mean, this are some massive, massive issues.
I'm Sarah Holder, and this is the big take from Bloomberg News today on the show, with the US attack in Venezuela, an escalating White House rhetoric mean for Greenland, and where it all leaves NATO as it faces the prospect of a newly emboldened Russia. Donald Trump has been talking about taking over Greenland since twenty nineteen, when he first floated the idea of the US buying the island as part of a large real estate deal, and he picked back up at the beginning of his second term.
And I also have a message tonight for the incredible people of Greenland. We strongly support your right to determine your own future, and if you choose, we welcome you into the United States of America. We need.
In his dressed to Congress in March twenty twenty five, Trump made clear that having control of Greenland was still a priority.
One way or the other, We're going to get it.
I asked Bloomberg, Son of US, and Joe Doe to remind us why Trump is so interested in Greenland.
Officially, Trump says it's all about US national security. The island basically sits right between the North Atlantic and the Arctic, and it essentially puts it right in the front line between US and Russia.
The US already does have a military base in Greenland, and it's had a presence there for decades.
The US had dozens of installations military installations in Greenland during the Cold War.
And then decided to scale back.
What's changed now is climate change. For one thing, the Arctic ice is melting. It's opening up to new sea routes, but also potentially hostile ships and submarines having easier access to move through the region. Russia and China they are expanding their Arctic presence, and Trump really sees Greenland as a potential weak spot in the nation's defense.
The melting of the ice caps, right and kind of the freeing up of essentially the Arctic Circle is absolutely critical here, and I think from a defense department, from a Pentagon perspective, is that is mission critical.
And the US could conceivably just set up more military bases in Greenland, right. They have a fairly easy path to do that under this nineteen fifty one treaty with Denmark. Why doesn't the administration see that as enough from a national security standpoint?
I mean, that's the question that Danish officials and Greenlandic officials have been asking all along. Their point is that the US can achieve their aims in terms of national security without taking control of Greenland. All it has to do is come and set up a more military basis. All it has to do is talk to Denmark about what it is that it needs there, or talk to Greenland as well about the possibilities and.
Joe, so, what are some of the other reasons that Greenland might be strategically interesting to the Trump administration?
So critical minerals have been a key priority of his current administration. You marry that key priority with the fact that there is a wealth of critical minerals in Greenland. It's nearly impossible to unlock at commercial scale right now, but you've had a number of people trying to work out a way to make that work. I mean, the majority of the island is permafrost. You can't build anything
in permafrost. I think what you have is there's a defense angle, there's a national security angle that's very real, and then you also have people trying to find out how to make a profit, right, you know. I think on some of you just have people saying, Okay, well let's see if you can get ours, and it's so crude, but I think it's important to point out to people that that's out there as well. I mean, you're seeing
it with Venezuela, You're seeing it with Ukraine. There is money behind all of this.
We've heard a lot of variations from the Trump administration about how they could actually bring Greenland closer. There's the option of force business deals. Trump urged Greenland's voters to choose the United States.
People in Greenland, many of them say, you know, listen, some sort of independence sounds like a good idea. We'd like that. But the idea that like we would trade one European nation for a North American nation who quote unquote rules US, that's equally as bad.
Right, If they want independence, they want independence. Is there a new specific plan here that's emerging, Joe, what is your latest reporting on how the US might pursue closer ties with Greenland or a potential takeover.
My reporting so far has shown, according to people familiar, nothing is changed, nothing's changed. Donald Trump mentioned Greenland again a month ago. I was in Washington, DC catching up with my sources there and I asked, among the many questions, this was very much the end of the conversation type of questions to these sources, who would know where is Greenland right now in the pile of priorities? And the overwhelming response was Greenland. I mean, it's at the bottom
of the pile. Nobody's talking about it right now. And now he's mentioned it multiple times in the past week. So in less than a month, we went from like this is not a priority of the administration, they're not talking about it to Donald Trump is talking about it seemingly every day, and we go back to the reporting that we had, which was when he announced it, White
House staffers were scrambling. You know, you got to present something to Donald Trump, to the President of the United States, when he says, I've got a thing behind this.
Okay, So your latest reporting is that what these officials are looking to present our potential business deals that could give the US a greater footprint on the island, like rare earth minerals, mining projects, or hydro electric power ventures. And at the same time, Rubio reportedly told lawmakers this week that the US wants to buy Greenland. How could something like that even work?
Well, first of all, for a transaction to happen, you have to have the a seller and a buyer who are both willing to transact. And right now, Denmark has made it very clear that they're not a willing seller. So if this, if the supposed seller is not even at the table, like, then there's no transaction that can occur. And if we go back to this idea that like the US is not going to use force, then we're just kind of at the same standstill that we've been
the whole time. You know, I guess the two be sure on this, is it goes back to the Stephen Miller interview where he said, you know, basically like we're not taking anything off the table here, right, But then he also said, and why would we take Greenland by force? If we want it, we don't have to take it by force, with the idea being that you just show up on the shores and you just say, okay, it's ours now, you know, assuming that nobody is going to resist.
I mean, then I don't know, you get into such uncharted territory. It's such a hypothetical, it's almost like dangerous to even like contemplate what we're talking about here.
Yeah, But on Tuesday night, the White House issued the statement saying, quote utilizing the US military is always an option unquote when it comes to Greenland. Sona, What are we hearing from Danish officials about all of this, How are they interpreting the White House's intentions, and what path forward do they see as the most likely at this stage.
They've reacted very strongly.
I mean, the Danish Prime Minister has been out several times in the past week telling Trump to stop issuing threats against Greenland, reiterating previous points that it is up to Greenland to decide its own future. At this stage, Danish officials hope that they can talk to Trump and dismantle some of the arguments that he has for taking control of Greenland. They believe that Trump is painting a
completely wrong picture of the situation. Trump has said that Chinese and Russian ships are everywhere around Greenland.
Denmark says that's wrong.
Trump has said that Denmark hasn't invested in Greenland's defenses. Denmark says that's wrong too. So they're really hoping that they can help clarify things and talk about a diplomatic solution going forward. It could be that they would enter a deal over the US expanding its military presence in Greenland under existing treaties, so he could do that without
getting into too much trouble with NATO. That's not a scenario that Danish officials are necessarily hoping for, but they have said that they're open to the US expanding of boosting its presence in Greenland.
There's an idea coming from the Trump administration that a US takeover of Greenland would benefit NATO, the Western military alliance intended to keep Russia in check. Stephen Miller made that case to CNN's Jake Tapper, the.
United States is the power of NATO, for the United States to secure the Arctic region, to protect and defend NATO and NATO interest. Obviously Greenland should be part of the United States. And so that's a conversation that we're going to have.
After the break. How NATO is responding to the White House's Greenland messaging and what it all means for European security and global geopolitics. In the more than seventy five years since NATO's creation, never has one member threatened to take territory from another, So Bloomberg, Son of US, says, the White House's comments about a US takeover of Greenland have raised existential questions for NATO.
Danish Prime Minister metaphors and has said if Trump decides to attack a NATO ally, that.
Would essentially mean the end to NATO.
What I also think is happening now is that Trump is really testing EU unity, European unity. Big question mark
is what happens if he actually moves into Greenland. It would force Denmark to turn to its EU partners for support, but essentially then force European countries to choose between protecting Greenland or maintaining relationships with Washington, and Europe doesn't really have the military strength to take on the US, so it would create a mass dilemma for many countries and it would really really test the EU's strength and unity.
I mean, even if the US's rhetoric doesn't rise to the level of military action, what kind of damage or questions has this raised for the organization moving forward?
I mean, in Denmark there is a big frustration that NATO countries are focusing all the energy on these internal conflicts. I'm sure Putin is following this closely on the sideline and just waiting for NATO to completely break down. Even if Trump doesn't do anything about Greenland, the threat is just creating internal conflict that will be an advantage for him.
And Denmark has faced a lot of issues Russia's shadow fleet and drone attacks that is now being investigated as possibly coming from Russia.
Russia is obviously under its own pressure for its incursions into Ukraine. How is Russia reading this? Does it embolden Russia?
I think there's probably a couple of ways to look at it, which is one, there's a vacuum where Putin sees this as some sort of justification that you can kind of do what you want to do. I think this was a concern among you know, geopolitical experts in the weekend over the US removing Maduro from physically removing
this man from from Venezuela. I think there's another world where you look at it from like the Donald Trump hawk point of view, which is we are flexing muscle and showing our power, you know, all the way down to our special ops.
Right.
I mean, this is kind of an incredible extraction since the signal to Vladimir Putin and in Russia. I mean, I think Donald Trump, even during his first term, he uses kind of a strong man rhetoric, right, and he's also an in some ways back to that up right, the bombings of Iran back in the summer. This action, right, on some level, it does show to important power players what the United States is capable of. Does it work? I don't know, Santa.
For Greenland, where do things go from here?
Denmark and Greenland.
Now they've asked Marco Rubeu for a meeting, and that's for sure something that we'll be following. According to greenlandic officials, they've been trying to get a meeting with him for the past year, but without any luck. I mean Greenland's Prime Minister yainsphag Nielson. He's been out telling his people
not to panic. He has said that Trump's comments are disrespectful and unacceptable, and he has also made it very clear that Greenland does not want to become a part of the US, and most a large majority of Greenlanders agree with him on that.
But he's clearly also training carefully.
And in his statements it keeps on saying we are open to dialogue, We're open to business. The Greenlandic economy it is understrained. They would really like to trade more with the US, They would like to get more investments from the US, so they may also Greenlanders may also see maybe some opportunities not to give up control of their country, but to enter some deals and actually gain
some economic benefits that way. The biggest challenge to this happening now is that Donald Trump's threats have made Greenlanders afraid, so it's really making it challenging for Greenlandic politicians to enter into any negotiations dialogue with Donald Trump.
Denmark has said, we will do what we need to do. You tell us you can put more bases on Greenland. Just talk to us about it. I do think we're in uncharted territory and you do have to start kind of connecting dots because like Donald Trump himself is not telling us. And I mean, as our reporting says, like it seems like White House staffers don't even really know. So how are how are we?
Like?
How is anyone else gonna know?
This is the Big Take from Bloomberg News. I'm Sarah Holder. To get more from the Big Take and unlimited access to all of Bloomberg dot com, subscribe today at Bloomberg dot com Slash podcast offer. Thanks for listening. We'll be back tomorrow