Arctic ambitions: Washington revives talk of acquiring Greenland
Donald Trump’s top adviser has renewed calls for the United States to acquire Greenland, describing it as a strategic necessity. The proposal has prompted rebukes from Danish officials, who reiterated that the territory is not for sale.
S tephen Miller, Donald Trump’s Deputy Chief of Staff for Policy and Homeland Security Advisor, operating as the White House’s ideological outrider, has once again stoked the administration’s contentious desire to acquire Greenland.
Whilst offering no tactical minutiae regarding a military annexation of the European iced land during his exchange with CNN’s Jake Tapper, Miller’s rhetoric remained stark: the purchase is not merely a whim, but a strategic necessity.
His rationale, brutally simple, relied on a blunt interpretation of hegemonic entitlement.
“The United States is the power of NATO,” Miller asserted, positing that for Washington to secure the Arctic and fortify the alliance’s defence properly, the absorption of the territory is “obviously” required. He added, dismissing the prospect of geopolitical friction with characteristic certainty, that resistance was futile. “Nobody is gonna fight the United States militarily over the future of Greenland,” he claimed. “It doesn’t make any sense.”
The diplomatic temperature was lowered further, however, by an intervention from the advisor’s spouse. Katie Miller took to X to disseminate a piece of crude digital cartography: the island draped in the Stars and Stripes, captioned with the single, ominous monosyllable, “SOON”.
Copenhagen’s response was swift and glacial. Both Prime Minister Mette Frederiksen and Jesper Møller Sørensen, the Danish ambassador to Washington, issued sharp rebukes to what they perceive as American overreach.
Frederiksen, foregoing standard diplomatic ambiguity, categorised the overtures as hostile posturing against a sovereign neighbour.
“I would therefore strongly urge that the United States stop the threats against a historically close ally,” Frederiksen stated on Sunday, defending a population who have, in her words, “said very clearly that they are not for sale.”
GOING FURTHER
How Stephen Miller is turning the US state department into an ‘anti-immigration machine’ | THE GUARDIAN
Trump aide’s wife trolls Denmark with picture of US-flagged Greenland | THE TELEGRAPH
Greenland slams 'disrespectful' pic posted by Trump aide's wife | FRANCE 24
Denmark PM bristles at Trump’s ‘need’ for Greenland after US strikes on Venezuela | POLITICO
Stephen Miller Cornered on Wife Katie’s Grim Greenland Post | THE DAILY BEAST
'We need Greenland': Trump repeats threat to annex Danish territory | BBC NEWS
The painful questions for Nato and the EU as Trump threatens Greenland | BBC NEWS
Fact-checking whether US has right to take over Greenland | BBC NEWS
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▪ This piece was first published in Europeans TODAY on 6 January 2026.
▪ Cover: Dreamstime/KORWEN.
