 "'Whether they like it or not': Trump doubles down on his threat to annex Greenland amid tension with Nato")
US President Donald Trump on Friday doubled down on his threat to take over Greenland, insisting that the United States is “going to do something [there] whether they like it or not”. The remarks from Trump came while he was speaking at a meeting with oil and gas executives at the White House.
During the talks, in front of the media, Trump went on to justify his comments by saying, “If we don’t do it, Russia or China will take over Greenland. And we’re not going to have Russia or China as neighbours." Trump’s latest threat came amid the mounting tensions between the US and Nato allies over the matter.
Denmark, which has control over Greenland, has made it explicitly clear that the Arctic region is ’not for sale’, repeatedly rejecting Trump’s posture. Despite admonishments from Danish Prime Minister Mette Frederiksen, who recently said that a US attack on Greenland would mean the end of “Nato and therefore post Second World War security”, Trump has continued to insist that he supports the alliance.
.@POTUS: "We are going to do something on Greenland, whether they like it or not, 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. I would like to make a deal the easy way." pic.twitter.com/O3wH89icOp
— Rapid Response 47 (@RapidResponse47) January 9, 2026
Trump claims Russia & China would annex Greenland if the US didn’t
While speaking on the brewing tensions between Nato and the US, Trump highlighted the alliance’s dependence on the United States. “If it weren’t for me, you wouldn’t have Nato right now,” Trump said on Friday. “But we’re not going to allow Russia or China to occupy Greenland, and that’s what’s going to happen if we don’t.”
It is pertinent to note that Trump has long expressed interest in Greenland. He floated the idea publicly for the first time back in 2019, during his first presidency. At that time as well, his proposal met with swift opposition from both Danish and Greenlandic leaders.
Trump revived the topic in recent weeks following the US's operation in Venezuela in which they captured the country’s President, Nicolas Maduro and his wife. Trump said he needed Greenland “very badly” as a national security imperative.
Meanwhile, Greenlanders have repeatedly expressed their refusal to be part of the US, with 85 per cent of the population rejecting the idea, according to a 2025 poll. Meanwhile, polling shows only 7 per cent of Americans support the idea of a US military invasion of the territory.
Greenland is not the only issue that is currently on Trump’s radar. On Friday, he warned that the US would take action against the Iranian regime if it moves to violently suppress protesters as demonstrations continue to grow across the country.
Describing Iran as being in “big trouble”, Trump said: “If they start killing people as they have in the past, we will get involved. We’ll be hitting them very hard where it hurts.” “And again, I tell the Iranian leaders: ‘You’d better not start shooting, because we’ll start shooting too’," he added.
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