U.S. Sen. Angus King of Maine blasted President Donald Trump and administration officials Thursday over their saber-rattling toward Greenland, saying the rhetoric is alienating allies and empowering global rivals.
King said he’s appalled that top administration officials have suggested that the U.S. military could be used to seize control of Greenland if diplomatic efforts fail to acquire the Arctic territory. The U.S. already has a military base in Greenland, which is a self-governing territory of Denmark, and that country is a longstanding ally of the United States and a fellow member of NATO.
“The statement of the president and the administration that we need Greenland for national security reasons is utter nonsense,” King, an independent, said in an interview. “We have had a major base in Greenland for 75 years. The Danes and the Greenlanders are allies. If there is a need for additional national security assets in Greenland, I am quite sure that can be worked out with the Danes and the Greenlanders.”
King, who serves on the Senate Intelligence Committee and the Senate Armed Services Committee, has taken a strong interest in issues related to the Arctic, a region of growing economic and military importance as climate change melts sea ice. He and Republican U.S. Sen. Lisa Murkowski of Alaska co-founded the Senate Arctic Caucus roughly a decade ago. And on Thursday, Murkowski joined King in criticizing the Trump administration’s language about Greenland.
“I continue to hope the administration’s rhetoric on Greenland is nothing more than posturing for a new era of cooperation, because any effort to claim or take the territory by force would degrade both our national security and our international relationships,” Murkowski said. “We have a long history of close cooperation with Greenland, dating back to World War II and continuing today with the Pituffik Space Base, and have always been able to achieve our mutual goals through strong diplomacy with its people. As Greenland charts its future, we must see it as an ally, not an asset, and focus on continued partnership rather than possession.”
Trump has long talked about acquiring Greenland because of its strategic location and its wealth of natural resources, including rare earth materials. Leaders of Greenland and Denmark, meanwhile, have said repeatedly and unequivocally that the territory is not for sale.
But Trump’s interest in Greenland — as well as international concern about his true intentions — have increased since Trump ordered the U.S. military to forcibly remove the president of Venezuela last week.
“President Trump has made it well known that acquiring Greenland is a national security priority of the United States, and it’s vital to deter our adversaries in the Arctic region,” White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt said in a statement earlier this week. “The president and his team are discussing a range of options to pursue this important foreign policy goal, and of course, utilizing the U.S. military is always an option at the commander in chief’s disposal.”
Other Trump administration officials have emphasized diplomatic approaches. But the rhetoric from the White House has prompted officials in Greenland, Denmark and European nations to issue clear statements rebuffing any suggestion of a U.S. takeover.
“Greenland belongs to its people,” the leaders of Denmark, France, Germany, Italy, Poland, Spain and the United Kingdom said in a joint statement. “It is for Denmark and Greenland, and them only, to decide on matters concerning Denmark and Greenland.”
Because Greenland is a territory of NATO, it is also protected by the military treaty obligating alliance members to defend each other.
In an interview with Maine Public, King accused Trump of giving Russian and Chinese leaders a hall pass to do what they want in Ukraine and Taiwan by signaling that the U.S. will seize territory in the Western hemisphere. And he said there is “no need to own the real estate if you are working with allies in terms of developing national security assets.”
“I am suspicious because it is so clearly a pretext that something else is afoot that could be extraction of natural resources from Greenland,” King said. “And that’s colonialism, that’s imperialism — to take over another country in order to extract their natural resources, whether its rare earth minerals or oil, to benefit some industry in this country.”
As evidence of that alleged pretext, King pointed to Trump’s focus on the U.S. taking control of Venezuelan oil — rather than on restoring democracy — since last weekend’s military operation in that country.
This story appears through a media partnership with Maine Public.