President Donald Trump said Friday his administration will take action on Greenland "whether they like it or not," further escalating his rhetoric as he pushes to acquire the Danish territory for the U.S.
"I would like to make a deal, you know, the easy way. But if we don't do it the easy way, we're going to do it the hard way," Trump told reporters at the White House.
The comments came during a meeting with oil executives to discuss the prospect of doing business in Venezuela. Less than a week earlier, the U.S. military invaded the oil-rich South American nation and captured its leader, Nicolás Maduro.
Trump has long sought to take over Greenland, primarily citing the Arctic island's importance for U.S. national security.
Denmark and its European allies in NATO – the military alliance co-founded by the U.S. – have pushed back, reiterating that Greenland is not for sale. But the Trump administration nevertheless says it is currently weighing a range of options on Greenland, including utilizing the U.S. military or cutting a deal to purchase it from Denmark.
Government officials have also mulled sending lump sums of cash to Greenlanders in order to sway them to join the U.S., Reuters reported Thursday.
Asked on Friday how much those payments could be, Trump said, "I'm not talking about money for Greenland, yet."
"I might talk about that, but right now we are going to do something on Greenland, whether they like it or not," Trump said.
"Because if we don't do it, Russia or China will take over Greenland, and we're not going to have Russia or China as a neighbor," he said.
Trump said that while he is a "big fan" of Denmark, "the fact that they had a boat land there 500 years ago doesn't mean that they own the land. [I'm] sure we had lots of boats go there also."
"So we're going to be doing something with Greenland, either the nice way or the more difficult," he said.
The U.S. military already maintains a base in Greenland, and it reportedly has the ability to expand its presence there if desired.
But that isn't enough, Trump said.
"When we own it, we defend it. You don't defend leases the same way, you have to own it," he said.
