Trump's Trials - White House says 'all options' are on the table for Greenland, including diplomacy

Episode Date: January 8, 2026

The White House says "all options" are on the table when it comes to the U.S. potentially acquiring Greenland, including diplomacy. Several European leaders have fervently pushed back.Support NPR and hear every episode of Trump's Terms sponsor-free with NPR+. Sign up at plus.npr.org.Learn more about sponsor message choices: podcastchoices.com/adchoicesNPR Privacy Policy

I'm Scott Detrow, and you're listening to Trump's terms from NPR. We're under invasion from within. If you're not going to protect your citizens, President Trump will. We all serve at the pleasure of the president. The golden age of America is upon us. We are in the golden age. Each episode, we bring you the latest news about the 47th president and the policy changes he is pursuing on his own terms.

We know from experience that means challenging precedent, busting norms, and pushing against set ideas about what the federal government can and can't do. It all raises questions about how much Washington and the country will change over the course of this term. NPR is covering it all in stories like the one you are about to hear right after this. You're listening to Trump's terms from NPR. I'm Lela Faldin. The Trump administration is amping up its rhetoric about taking Greenland, insisting all options are on the table, including the U.S.

use of the military. Press Secretary Caroline Levitt on Wednesday echoed President Trump's assertions that the U.S. needs Greenland for national security purposes and appeared to warn Denmark not to dismiss the president's words. The president's first option always has been diplomacy. Again, look at Venezuela. He tried ardently to strike a good deal with Nicholas Maduro, and he told him, I will use the United States military and you will not like it if you don't take such a deal. and look at what happened. NPR White House correspondent Franco Ordonez is with us. Good morning. Good morning, Leila.

Okay, so that sounded like quite a threat from Caroline Leavitt. Is that how Denmark is taking it? Yeah. I mean, I'll say leaders in Denmark are taking this very, very seriously. I mean, it caught a lot of global leaders' attention, showing what the president is potentially capable of. And Secretary of State, Marco Rubio, he was on the Hill yesterday briefing members of Congress on Venezuela. Well, he was also asked. about Greenland, and he, too, echoed the press secretary's comments about the use of force. If the president identifies a threat to the national security of the United States,

every president retains the option to address it through military means. As a diplomat, which is what I am now, and what we work on, we always prefer to settle it in different ways. That included in Venezuela. Now, U.S. officials argue that Russia and China are making a play for control of the Arctic, making Greenland essentially a strategic asset for the U.S. Rubio says the preference has always been to purchase Greenland and added that he is meeting with Danish officials next week, but he also would not give any details about that meeting. Okay, so is this all a ploy to scare Denmark into selling Greenland to the United States?

I mean, Danish officials say Greenland belongs to its people, and it's up to them to determine their fate. And the prime minister, he warns that a U.S. invasion would essentially end the NATO military alliance. Denmark is, of course, a NATO ally. And I'll just say that GOP leaders like House Speaker Mike Johnson are dismissing the idea of a military action. And foreign policy hands think this is all a negotiating tactic. Mark Fierstein, who advised both the Obama and Biden administrations, says the U.S. is unlikely to do anything remotely similar to Greenland as he did in Venezuela. I think the administration wants to do now is give the impression that Trump, what Trump means what he says. and they want to be able to use the action Venezuela as a way to encourage other countries to get them to bend their will to U.S. means. It's basically a form of intimidation, a form of threats, and it might work. Fierstein says there's a big difference between going after a drug trafficking dictator

and going after Greenland, which is part of Denmark, again, a NATO ally, where the U.S. already has a military base. It's just not the same. But this Trump administration has been even more bold than the first. Yeah, and Trump never had much love for NATO. And speaking of multilateral organizations, he doesn't like. He says he's pulling the U.S. from dozens of international organizations. Yeah, that's right.

I should note that NATO is not one of them. The White House listed the dozens of organizations, which it said promote, quote, radical climate policies, global governance, and ideological programs that the administration says are contrary to U.S. interests. Many are U.N. related agencies and commissions like the U.N. population. agency. A non-U.N. organization on the list is the International Institute for Democracy. It's really just the latest example of the U.S. pulling away from global cooperation. White House correspondent Franco Ordonez. Thank you so much, Franco.

Thank you, Lail. Before we wrap up a reminder, you can find more coverage of the Trump administration on the NPR politics podcast, where you can hear NPR's political reporters break down the day's biggest political news with new episodes every weekday afternoon. And thanks, as always, to our NPR Plus supporters who hear every episode of the show without sponsor messages. You can learn more at plus.npr.org. I'm Scott Detrow.

Thanks for listening to Trump's terms from NPR.