According to White House Deputy Chief of Staff Stephen Miller, power trumps sovereignty, especially in the Arctic. “The new domain of international competition is going to be polar competition,” Miller told Fox News’ Sean Hannity in an interview on Jan. 17. “That is where more and more resources are being spent by our nation’s adversaries and rivals is the ability to control movement, navigation, lanes of travel in the polar and arctic region.”
He added that, because Denmark “cannot defend” Greenland, citing weaknesses in their military and economy, it should not have claims to the land. “To control a territory, you have to be able to defend a territory, improve a territory, inhabit a territory,” Miller said. “Denmark has failed at every single one of these tests.”
Miller claimed the U.S. was already on the hook to spend “hundreds of billions of dollars” to defend Denmark as a NATO ally. “It’s a raw deal, it’s an unfair deal, and most importantly, it’s unfair to the American taxpayer, who has subsidized all of Europe’s defense for generations now,” he told Hannity.
Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent similarly argued that the U.S. won’t back down on taking over Greenland, because, he claimed, the continent is too weak to ensure its security. Bessent all but dismissed European Union threats to halt a tariff deal reached between Trump and the bloc last year, telling NBC News’ “Meet the Press” on Jan. 18 that Trump is using strategic leverage to get what he wants.
“First of all, the trade deal hasn’t been finalized, and an emergency action can be very different from another trade deal,” Bessent said. Trump “leverages his emergency powers to do this,” he added.
Bessent cited global competition in the Arctic and U.S. plans for a “Golden Dome” missile shield as reasons for the U.S. to acquire Greenland. And Trump is not bluffing, he affirmed: “The President believes enhanced security is not possible without Greenland being part of the U.S.”
Some European leaders have warned that the U.S. taking Greenland could spell the end of NATO, but Bessent told NBC: “The European leaders will come around and they will understand that they need to be under the U.S. security umbrella.”
