Secretary of State Marco Rubio told SiriusXM’s Megyn Kelly on Thursday during her show that President Donald Trump’s bid for Greenland is “not a joke.”
In recent weeks, Trump has reiterated his interest in purchasing Greenland, a territory controlled by Denmark. On “The Megyn Kelly Show,” the SiriusXM host asked the newly confirmed secretary of state about the land grab and mentioned Denmark’s resistance to giving up the territory. Some reports say Danish Prime Minister Mette Frederiksen had a heated discussion with the president over the matter.
“Well, I think President Trump, what he has said publicly is he wants to buy it. He wants to pay for it. How we worked on something like that, how something like that is approached, obviously is probably done better in the appropriate forms. A lot of this stuff is done publicly, and it’s not helpful because it puts the other side in a tough spot domestically,” Rubio said. “So those conversations are going to happen. But this is not a joke. What he is saying is pretty accurate.”
“This is not about acquiring land for the purpose of acquiring land. This is in our national interest, and it needs to be solved. President Trump has put out there what he intends to do, which is to purchase it. I wasn’t privy to that phone call, but I imagine the phone call went the way a lot of these phone calls go, and that is he just speaks bluntly and frankly with people,” Rubio added. “Ultimately I think diplomacy in many cases works better when you’re straightforward as opposed to using platitudes and language that translates to nothing.”
Trump first raised the issue of purchasing Greenland during his first term. In August 2019, Trump asked his advisors about buying Greenland, according to a Wall Street Journal report. However, Greenland’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs dismissed the idea. Trump began recirculating the idea late last year.
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Prior to Rubio discussing Trump’s intent with Kelly, the secretary of state told the host that the reason for the inquiry is due to the potential competition with China over the land and its importance to issues like “shipping lanes.”
“Well, the Arctic, which has gotten very little attention, but the Arctic Circle and the Arctic region is going to become critical for shipping lanes. How do you get some of this energy that’s going to be produced under President Trump? These energies rely on shipping lanes. The Arctic is some of the most valuable shipping lanes in the world,” Rubio said. “As some of the ice is melting, it’s become more and more navigable. We need to be able to defend that.”
“So if you project what the Chinese have done, it is just a matter of time before – because they are not an Arctic power. They do not have an Arctic presence. So they need to be able to have somewhere that they can stage from,” Rubio added. “It is completely realistic to believe that the Chinese will eventually, maybe in the short term, try to do in Greenland what they have done at the Panama Canal and in other places. That is install facilities that give them access to the Arctic with the cover of a Chinese company, but that in reality serve a dual purpose, that in a moment of conflict they could send naval vessels to that facility and operate from there.”
In addition to Greenland, Trump has signaled interest in both the Panama Canal and Canada. In December 2024, Trump posted on Truth Social, warning Panama that the U.S. would demand the canal back if it didn’t end its “ridiculous” fees. The remarks about Panama came after Trump said the U.S. could take on Canada and absorb it as the 51st state.
(Featured Image Media Credit: Screenshot/YouTube/”The Megyn Kelly Show”)
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