Trump refuses to rule out using military force to take Greenland, unsettling allies, markets, and the rules-based global order.
Danish Foreign Minister Lars Løkke Rasmussen was asked whether President Donald Trump would forcibly invade Greenland. Rasmussen said he didn’t believe that military action would occur. But he couldn’t rule it out. «You can’t leave anything out until the president himself has decided to leave anything out», Rasmussen said.
On the one hand, the U.S. invading Greenland to take control of the island nation is a completely ridiculous scenario. You almost have to laugh.
On the other hand, here’s what Trump said yesterday afternoon when asked how far he was willing to go to acquire the country. «You’ll find out.»
Not: I won’t use military force. Not: America won’t invade another country. Not: Come on, don’t be ridiculous.
No, when given the opportunity to rule out those scenarios, Trump pointedly refused to take military action off the table. And then his own press team decided to post on X the exchange, advertising it, just so everyone would know. That completely ridiculous scenario was a live possibility.
So now Greenland, along with the rest of us, will have to wait—and find out.
Trump famously likes to keep his options open. And often enough, the worst-case scenarios dreamed up by his critics don’t come to pass. All of this might prove to be little more than another crazy episode of The Trump Show. But sometimes, well—sometimes Trump says a bunch of absurd stuff, and then there’s a riot at the Capitol.
On this week’s Reason Roundtable podcast, Matt Welch, Reem Ibrahim, Kat Rosenfield, and I talked about how to handle this Trumpian uncertainty. One big takeaway: Congress could eliminate Trump’s power to use military force in Greenland with a vote. That no one expects America’s legislators will actually do so is a shame on Congress, and a (sadly routine) dishonor to the American constitutional system.
Congress may be out for the snowbird special, but the stock market is not shrugging its shoulders. Tuesday was the worst day since October for U.S. stocks. Markets have tolerated a lot of potential instability so far. But with Trump’s «drive to take over Greenland throwing the European and American alliance in disarray—and Japanese bonds plunging on concerns over the country’s finances—the calm abruptly snapped», reports Bloomberg.
