Trump says U.S. will ‘be there’ for NATO as threats toward Greenland rattle alliance

WASHINGTON — President Donald Trump said the United States will “be there” for NATO after the White House refused to rule out the use of military force to take control of Greenland.

In a long post on social media Wednesday, Trump said “RUSSIA AND CHINA HAVE ZERO FEAR OF NATO WITHOUT THE UNITED STATES, AND I DOUBT NATO WOULD BE THERE FOR US IF WE REALLY NEEDED THEM.”

Trump also said NATO members would not have increased their defence spending targets without his pressure and complained again about not receiving the Nobel Peace Prize.

After the United States captured Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro on Saturday, the president began repeating his comments about taking over Greenland, a self-governing territory of the kingdom of Denmark.

Members of the NATO alliance were further rattled Wednesday when the White House said in a statement that “the President and his team are discussing a range of options to pursue this important foreign policy goal, and of course, utilizing the U.S. Military is always an option at the commander-in-chief’s disposal.”

Canada is a member of NATO and Prime Minister Mark Carney on Tuesday joined multiple European leaders in defending the sovereignty of Greenland.

“The future of Greenland and Denmark are decided solely by the people of Denmark and Greenland,” Carney said while meeting with Danish Prime Minister Mette Frederiksen at Canada’s embassy in Paris.

Foreign Minister Anita Anand and Gov. Gen. Mary Simon are set to visit Greenland next month to open a consulate in Nuuk.

Fen Osler Hampson, a professor of international affairs at Carleton University in Ottawa and co-chair of the Expert Group on Canada-U.S. Relations, said it’s time for Canada and its European partners to go beyond mere statements.

“We need a visible multinational presence in Greenland formed by troops from Canada and European countries, which is framed as defending Danish-Greenlandic sovereignty,” he said.

“It’s not directed at the United States, but it’s there to send a signal that NATO and like-minded partners will not tolerate coercive annexation within the alliance.”

Having that multinational presence would demonstrate that NATO is serious about Arctic security and “dramatically raise the political cost of any attempt by the United States or anyone else to solve the Greenland question unilaterally,” Hampson said.

If Trump were to deploy the military to seize Greenland, it would be the end of NATO, Hampson said.

NATO was founded in 1949 to counter the threat of the Soviet Union. Article 5 — which states that an attack on any member will be met by a response from all of them — has only been invoked once by the United States, after the Sept. 11, 2001 terrorist attacks.

Secretary of State Marco Rubio Wednesday said he would meet with Denmark’s leaders next week but added Trump has always intended to buy Greenland.

White House spokesperson Karoline Leavitt would not offer details Wednesday when asked what a purchase might look like.

Trump has said he wants Greenland for Arctic security but has also talked about its critical minerals and other resources.

Greenland sits off the northeastern coast of Canada. There are already security agreements between Denmark and the United States and the U.S. Department of Defense operates Greenland’s remote Pituffik Space Base.

This report by The Canadian Press was first published Jan. 7, 2026.