French Foreign Minister Confirms Washington Intends to Buy Greenland, Not Invade

07 January 2026, 12:07 PM

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اتصال هاتفي لوزير الخارجية الفرنسية مع وزير الخارجية الأمريكي حول غرينلاند - Phone call between French Foreign Minister and U.S. Secretary of State on Greenland — U.S. Department of State, Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons

French Foreign Minister’s Remarks on the U.S. Position Regarding Greenland

French Foreign Minister Jean-Noël Barrot said that U.S. counterpart Marco Rubio confirmed during a phone call that there are no plans for a military invasion of Greenland, adding that Washington’s objective is limited to purchasing the island from Denmark. Barrot told Radio France that Rubio ruled out repeating any military intervention scenario similar to that seen in Venezuela.

The Wall Street Journal reported that Rubio told U.S. lawmakers Washington prioritizes buying Greenland rather than military intervention, following repeated statements by President Donald Trump about the U.S. need to control the island and his refusal to rule out a military option.

French Foreign Minister and U.S. Counterpart Discuss American Options on Greenland — Gage Skidmore, CC BY-SA 3.0, via Wikimedia Commons

Trump stated in an interview with The Atlantic on January 4 that the United States “also needs Greenland” due to its strategic location, surrounded by Chinese and Russian naval presence. Danish Prime Minister Mette Frederiksen called on Trump to “stop threatening” to annex Greenland, while former Greenlandic Prime Minister Múte Bourup Egede stated that the island “is not for sale and will never be sold.”