Rubio to meet Denmark leaders next week, signals no retreat on Trump's Greenland goal

By John Irish, Andreas Rinke and Anne Kauranen

PARIS/BERLIN, Jan 7 (Reuters) - The top U.S. diplomat said on Wednesday he would meet leaders of Denmark next week but signalled no retreat from President Donald Trump's aim to take over Greenland, and alarmed allies including France and Germany were working on a plan on how to respond.

A U.S. military seizure of the mineral-rich Arctic island from a longtime ally, Denmark, would send shock waves through the NATO alliance and deepen the divide between Trump and European leaders.

In Washington, U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio said he would meet Danish leaders next week and that Trump retained the option to address his objective by military means.

Still, "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," Rubio told reporters when asked if the U.S. was willing to potentially endanger NATO with a forcible takeover of Greenland.

White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt said a potential U.S. purchase of Greenland was being actively discussed by Trump and his national security team.

"All options are always on the table for President Trump ... the president's first option always has been diplomacy," Leavitt told a regular news briefing.

Earlier in the day, French Foreign Minister Jean-Noel Barrot said the subject would be raised at a meeting with the foreign ministers of Germany and Poland later in the day.

"We want to take action, but we want to do so together with our European partners," he said on France Inter radio.

A German government source said separately that Germany was "closely working together with other European countries and Denmark on the next steps regarding Greenland".

Speaking on condition of anonymity, a senior European official said Denmark must lead efforts to coordinate a response, but "the Danes have yet to communicate to their European allies what kind of concrete support they wish to receive".

Greenland is strategically located between Europe and North America, making it a critical site for the U.S. ballistic missile defence system for decades. Its mineral wealth also aligns with Washington's ambition to reduce reliance on China.

EUROPEANS, CANADA RALLY BEHIND GREENLAND

Leaders from major European powers and Canada have rallied behind Greenland this week, saying the Arctic island belongs to its people, after Trump renewed threats to seize the territory.

Johannes Koskinen, chair of the Foreign Affairs Committee of Finland's parliament, called for the issue to be raised at NATO.

NATO allies should "address whether something needs to be done and whether the United States should be brought into line in the sense that it cannot disregard jointly agreed plans in order to pursue its own power ambitions," he said.

The next North Atlantic Council meeting is scheduled for Thursday.

EU Council President Antonio Costa said the European Union would support Greenland and Denmark when needed and would not accept violations of international law no matter where they occur.

"There is obviously a real political will given these joint statements from political leaders," Andreas Osthagen, research director at the Oslo-based Fridtjof Nansen Institute, told Reuters.

"It is about political solidarity but also about self-preservation that all Western countries have a desire that we should retain a principle of state sovereignty."

TRUMP SAYS GREENLAND KEY TO U.S. SECURITY

Trump has in recent days repeated that he wants to gain control of Greenland, an idea first voiced in 2019 during his first presidency. He argues the island is key for U.S. military strategy and that Denmark has not done enough to protect it.

The White House said on Tuesday Trump was discussing options for acquiring Greenland, including potential use of the U.S. military despite European objections.

Others in the administration said different approaches were possible. Rubio said the goal was to buy the island from Denmark during a classified briefing late on Monday for congressional leaders, two sources familiar with the briefing said.

France's Barrot suggested a U.S. military operation had been ruled out by Washington's top diplomat.

"I myself was on the phone with the Secretary of State yesterday (...), he discarded the idea that what just happened in Venezuela could happen in Greenland," he said.

A U.S. military operation over the weekend that seized the leader of Venezuela had already rekindled concerns that Greenland might face a similar scenario.

Danish Foreign Minister Lars Lokke Rasmussen and his Greenlandic counterpart, Vivian Motzfeldt, requested an urgent meeting with Rubio to discuss the situation.

"We would like to add some nuance to the conversation," Rasmussen wrote in a social media post. "The shouting match must be replaced by a more sensible dialogue. Now."

Greenland continues to reject annexation by the U.S., said Aaja Chemnitz, a Greenlandic member of the Danish parliament.

"Greenland has never been for sale and never will be for sale," she told Reuters, adding that U.S. officials not ruling out a military intervention was "completely appalling".

DENMARK DISPUTES RUSSIAN, CHINESE PRESENCE

The world's largest island but with a population of just 57,000, Greenland is not an independent member of NATO but is covered by Denmark's membership of the Western alliance.

Trump has repeatedly said Russian and Chinese vessels are stalking waters around Greenland, which Denmark disputes.

"The image that's being painted of Russian and Chinese ships right inside the Nuuk fjord and massive Chinese investments being made is not correct," Rasmussen said.

Vessel tracking data from MarineTraffic and LSEG show no presence of Chinese or Russian ships near Greenland.