Rep. Andy Fine (R-FL) on Monday introduced legislation that could set Washington on the path to making Greenland the country’s 51st state.
Fine is pressing for the passage of the Greenland Annexation and Statehood Act as the Trump administration actively seeks to acquire Denmark’s territory, citing sweeping national security interests.
“Greenland is not a distant outpost we can afford to ignore — it is a vital national security asset,” Fine said in a statement. “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.”
If passed, the bill would authorize President Donald Trump to “annex or acquire” Greenland by using “whatever steps necessary.” The legislation also requires the submission of a full report to Congress outlining the changes to federal law required to ultimately admit Greenland to become a U.S. state, according to Fine’s office.
Fine’s bill follows Trump’s suggestion last week that the U.S. would launch an invasion of Greenland to take Danish territory “the hard way” if necessary.
“It has been the formal position of the U.S. government since the beginning of this administration — frankly, going back into the previous Trump administration — that Greenland should be part of the United States,” White House Deputy chief of staff Stephen Miller told CNN. “The president has been very clear about that. That is the formal position of the U.S. government.”
The president’s position has triggered widespread Democratic opposition in Congress, as well as among some Republicans. But Trump believes that Denmark is unable to properly secure its semiautonomous territory and that in the absence of U.S. dominance, China or Russia will take over the island, which is viewed globally as a strategic military asset due to its position in the Arctic waters, a depository of oil, and a wealth of critical rare Earth minerals seen as pivotal for defense and economic capabilities.
The U.S. also operates the Pituffik Space Base from Greenland and has poured billions into preserving the Pentagon’s ability to hold the base as a missile warning, missile defense, and space surveillance system.
Danish leaders have conceded they share some concerns about weak security against Russia and China, sparking efforts in recent months to ramp up defense budgets aimed at better securing the island.
“For many years, we have not invested sufficiently in the Arctic, [but] now we are planning a stronger presence,” Danish Defense Minister Troels Lund Poulsen said in December 2024.
“Their defense is two dog sleds,” Trump told reporters aboard Air Force One on Sunday.
TRUMP’S FOREIGN POLICY THREATENS GRIP ON CONGRESSIONAL REPUBLICANS
It would likely take at least billions of dollars for the U.S. to purchase Greenland, as Secretary of State Marco Rubio has pressed to do. The U.S. already sends the Danish territory millions in foreign aid annually, including over half a billion in 2024.
“That’s always been the president’s intent from the very beginning. He said it very early on. I mean, this is not new. He talked about it in his first term, and he’s not the first U.S. president that has examined or looked at how could we acquire Greenland?” Rubio said last Wednesday. “There’s an interest there. If the president identifies a threat to the national security of the United States, every president retains the option to address it through military means. As a diplomat, which is what I am now and what we work on, we always prefer to settle it in different ways.”
