Vice President JD Vance reiterated the Trump administration's push to "get some benefit out of" American costs to defend Greenland, Arctic territory, and NATO interests in the region.
"It's just very simple: Greenland is very important to the national security of the United States of America," Vance told reporters on the tarmac Tuesday, departing Armenia for Azerbaijan.
"I do think that some of our allies have underinvested in Arctic security."
"And if we're going to invest in Arctic security — if we're going to basically pay a lot of money and be on the hook for protecting this massive landmass — I think it's only reasonable for the United States to get some benefit out of that," Vance added.
"And that's going to be the focus of the negotiations here over the next few months."
Greenland's Foreign Minister Vivian Motzfeldt said this weekend that while it is a positive that talks with the U.S. are ongoing, they are not yet aligning with Greenland's vision, and it is too soon to predict where they will lead.
"We are not there where we want to be yet," Motzfeldt told a joint press conference in Nuuk with her Danish and Canadian counterparts. "There is going to be a long track, so where we are going to land at the end, it's too early to say."
The talks are closer to the beginning than the end, Vance suggested Tuesday.
"It's very early in the Greenland talks," he said. "I know that, you know, we've been working quite a bit on this over the last few weeks."
NATO is expected to launch an Arctic Sentry mission in the coming days, five sources told Reuters, in a move to boost its role in the region and defuse tensions between President Donald Trump and Europe.
A decision to launch could come as early as this week, when the alliance's defense ministers meet in Brussels, three European diplomats, a military official, and a person familiar with the matter told Reuters.
Europe should brace for further clashes with the U.S. and treat the recent "Greenland moment" as a wake-up call to push through long-delayed economic reforms and strengthen the bloc's global power, French President Emmanuel Macron said Tuesday.
In interviews published in several European newspapers, Macron said Europe should not mistake a lull in tensions with Washington for a lasting shift despite the apparent end of disputes over Greenland, trade, and technology.
"When there's a clear act of aggression, I think what we should do isn't bow down or try to reach a settlement," Macron told outlets, including Le Monde and the Financial Times. "I think we've tried that strategy for months."
"It's not working."
Macron said the Trump administration was being "openly anti-European" and seeking the EU's "dismemberment."
"The U.S. will, in the coming months — that's certain — attack us over digital regulation," Macron added, warning about potential U.S. import tariffs should the EU use its Digital Services Act to control tech companies.
Macron also renewed his call for fresh common borrowing, such as eurobonds, arguing this would allow the EU to invest at scale and challenge the hegemony of the U.S. dollar.
EU leaders will meet in Brussels on Thursday for a summit where they plan to discuss measures to strengthen the EU economy and make it better able to stand up to the U.S. and China on the global stage.
Reuters contributed to this report.
Eric Mack ✉
Eric Mack has been a writer and editor at Newsmax since 2016. He is a 1998 Syracuse University journalism graduate and a New York Press Association award-winning writer.
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