“The hard way” if necessaryTrump is again threatening Greenland with a violent takeover
10.01.2026, 00:47 Clock
Listen to article(03:38 min)
The US President is not letting up on the issue of Greenland. Trump emphasizes that the USA must bring the island under its control. To justify this, he fantasizes about a threat from other countries.
US President Donald Trump has reaffirmed his territorial claim to Greenland and justified it with an alleged threat from China and Russia. The US would do something about Greenland, whether it liked it or not, he said at the White House. “We will not allow Russia or China to occupy Greenland,” Trump said. “That’s what they will do if we don’t.” He would like to make a deal, “but if we don’t do it the easy way, we’ll do it the hard way.”
The US must defend Greenland, he said. The US President has recently made it clear again and again that he wants to bring the island, which officially belongs to NATO partner Denmark, under the control of the United States. He referred to their great strategic importance and an alleged recent large presence of Russian and Chinese ships in the region. Military and security experts contradict this claim. Civilian ships are traveling in Arctic waters, said Michael Paul from the Science and Politics Foundation (SWP) in an interview with ntv.de. But: “The warships that Trump wants to see everywhere are nonsense.”
Trump’s statements are causing a stir and concern, especially because he has not ruled out military and economic coercion in order to gain control over Greenland. The island is four-fifths covered with ice and is six times the size of Germany, but has just under 57,000 inhabitants.
Denmark and other EU and NATO countries reacted angrily to Trump’s threats. Danish Prime Minister Mette Frederiksen even warned that an attack on Greenland by NATO ally the USA would seal the end of the defense alliance. Trump said he was a “fan” of Denmark. “They were very nice to me,” the US president added. “But you know, just because a boat docked there 500 years ago doesn’t mean they own the land.”
When it comes to Venezuela, Trump also refers to China and Russia
At a meeting with representatives of oil companies in the White House, Trump also justified the US actions in Venezuela with a reference to China and Russia. Without the U.S., “China and Russia would have been there,” he said. At the same time, Trump said he was open to doing business with the two countries with a view to selling oil.
The USA had already made it clear that it wanted to secure long-term access to Venezuelan oil. Trump says he expects the US to run Venezuela for years and develop its huge oil reserves. The United States has also filed claims to revenue from the export of Venezuelan oil. Last weekend, US forces attacked Venezuela, captured the authoritarian head of state Nicolás Maduro and his wife Cilia Flores and brought them to the US.
