WASHINGTON, DC – On Monday, U.S. Congressman Randy Fine (R-Florida) introduced a bill that could bring Greenland into the fold of the United States.
In a release, Fine’s office said that the legislation — dubbed the “Greenland Annexation and Statehood Act” — is aimed at bolstering national security in the Arctic region.
“Greenland is not a distant outpost we can afford to ignore — it is a vital national security asset," Fine said. “Whoever controls Greenland controls key Arctic shipping lanes and the security architecture protecting the United States. America cannot leave that future in the hands of regimes that despise our values and seek to undermine our security.”
The bill itself grants the president the authority to take whatever steps are necessary to acquire Greenland, including negotiations with Denmark.
This move comes after U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio announced that he planned to meet with Danish officials this week as part of the Trump administration’s push to annex the self-governing territory.
Since the capture of former Venezuelan leader Nicolás Maduro, President Donald Trump has revived his argument that the United States needs to control the world’s largest island to ensure its own security in the face of rising threats from China and Russia in the Arctic.
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Danish Foreign Minister Lars Løkke Rasmussen and his Greenland counterpart, Vivian Motzfeldt, had requested a meeting with Rubio, according to a statement posted Tuesday to Greenland’s government website. Previous requests for a meeting were not successful, the statement said.
Rubio told a select group of U.S. lawmakers that it was the Republican administration’s intention to eventually purchase Greenland, as opposed to using military force.
“For too long, American leadership stood by while our adversaries chipped away at our geopolitical dominance,” Fine continued. “My bill will protect our homeland, secure our economic future, and ensure that America — not China or Russia — sets the rules in the Arctic. That is what American leadership and strength look like.”
You can read the full bill below:
The Associated Press contributed to this report.