Secretary of State Marco Rubio said Wednesday that he will meet with his Danish counterpart next week in Washington to discuss the crisis over Greenland.
Why it matters: The White House's insistence that the U.S. could use military force to take Greenland has created extreme alarm in Denmark and among other NATO allies.
Driving the news: The Danish government has been in crisis mode for the past few weeks, and particularly the last 72 hours.
- Denmark has realized in recent weeks that its strategy of quiet ally-to-ally persuasion on Greenland had failed to move Trump, a Danish official told Axios. "This is why it is such a serious situation. This is also why our allies and partners come out publicly against it and sound the alarm."
- On Tuesday, the alarm increased after White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt reiterated that Trump intends to acquire Greenland one way or the other, and "the U.S. military is always an option at the commander in chief's disposal."
- Speaking to reporters in between Venezuela briefings on Capitol Hill, Rubio said "every president always retains the option" of military force, but "we always prefer to settle it in different ways."
- He confirmed Trump was interested in potentially buying Greenland, though both Greenland and Denmark have made clear it's not for sale.
State of play: Danish Foreign Minister Lars Lokke Rasmussen and his counterpart from Greenland, Vivian Motzfeldt, officially requested a meeting with Rubio to discuss the crisis.
- "I will be meeting with them next week. We will have these conversations with them then," Rubio said during Wednesday's comments.
- In a briefing with reporters on Wednesday, Leavitt said Trump is discussing what a potential purchase of Greenland might look like. She reiterated that "all options are on the table" but stressed "the first option always is diplomacy."
