Trump believes US will annex Greenland as NATO leader tells him the organization will sit out potential takeover

Former Dutch prime minister Mark Rutte, now the NATO Secretary-General, declined to respond to Trump’s belligerent remarks

President Donald Trump said he believes the U.S. will annex Greenland as he sat next to the head of NATO in the Oval Office Thursday — though the Dutch politician took a more diplomatic approach to the issue.

“I think it’ll happen,” Trump told reporters, sitting next to NATO Secretary-General Mark Rutte.

“We need that for international security, not just national security,” the president said of the island. Trump noted that he was sitting with Rutte, who he referred to as “a man that could be very instrumental” in such a transaction even though neither Denmark nor the Greenlandic population are interested in ceding the territory to the U.S.

Rutte, appearing slightly chagrined by the president’s remarks, replied: “When it comes to Greenland, joining or not joining the U.S., I would leave that outside ... this discussion because I do not want to drag NATO into that.”

But the former Dutch prime minister quickly pivoted to praising Trump by stating that he was “totally right” about the need to maintain a security posture in “the high north and the Arctic.”

Trump replied that Denmark is “very far away” from Greenland and noted that there’s already an American military presence there before suggesting that the U.S. could send “more and more soldiers” there, implying that they could be used to take control of the island, and asked: “What do you think about that?”

Turning to Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth, Trump quickly added: “Pete, Don’t answer that.”

President Donald Trump meets NATO Secretary General Mark Rutte, in the Oval Office. There, Trump talked about his desires to annex Greenland (REUTERS)

Trump and Rutte spoke to the press on Thursday as the president met with the military alliance leader.The two spoke on several topics including the Ukraine-Russia war and funding NATO. But Trump was asked about his continued desire to add Greenland.

The world’s largest island, Greenland is currently the subject of a longstanding defense agreement between the United States and Denmark that allows the U.S. to operate military facilities there, including Ptiuffik Space Base, formerly known as Thule Air Base.

The United States once offered to purchase the island in the wake of the Second World War but the Danish government declined the offer. Since winning the 2024 presidential election, Trump has repeatedly threatened to annex Greenland in public remarks on a number of occasions.

The Danish government and the Greenlandic government have both said that the territory is not up for sale.