President Donald Trump implied he might try to take Greenland by force while discussing his repeated calls for the U.S. to acquire the territory, which have sparked widespread concern and criticism from the island itself.
In an interview broadcast Sunday on NBC’s “Meet the Press,” anchor Kristen Welker asked whether Trump could definitively say the U.S. won’t use force against the territory.
“I don’t rule it out. I don’t say I’m going to do it, but I don’t rule out anything. No, not there,” Trump said. “We need Greenland very badly. Greenland is a very small amount of people, which we’ll take care of, and we’ll cherish them, and all of that. But we need that for international security.”
Also in the interview, Welker asked Trump if he would “rule out” the once-inconceivable prospect of using military force against Canada amid the politician’s ongoing comments about annexing the neighboring country as the 51st state.