United States: Vice President JD Vance asked European leaders to “take the president of the United States seriously” about Greenland, claiming that the island is vital to international security and threatening to take action if partners fail to address what he called “hostile adversaries’ growing interest.”

When asked about a message for Europe in the face of opposition to the notion that Greenland “could be for sale,” Vance said that the administration will keep bringing up the issue diplomatically. “Some of these messages will continue to be delivered in private, while others will be delivered in public,” he said.

Vance mentioned future discussions with the State Department at a White House press briefing. “I want to say that Secretary of State Marco Rubio is meeting with the leaders of Denmark and Greenland next week, but maybe it’s the week after that,” Vance said.

Vance said that Trump’s remarks were causing detractors to overreact. Before outlining what he called the president’s main arguments, he added, “Set aside the crazy overreactions that I’ve seen from the press and from certain people in Europe.”

What did the President say? First and foremost, Greenland plays a critical role in both the global and American missile defenses, according to Vance. “Second, we are aware that hostile adversaries have expressed a great deal of interest in that specific region, that specific area of the world.”

According to him, the government was putting pressure on friends to increase island-wide security. “Therefore, we’re requesting that our European allies take the security of that landmass more seriously,” Vance said, adding that the United States would have to take action if they don’t.

Vance said that Trump will make the final choices and did not specify what US intervention may include. “As we continue to engage in diplomacy with our European friends and everybody on this particular topic, I’ll leave that to the president,” he added.

The Arctic position of Greenland, an independent province under the Kingdom of Denmark, has long been considered strategically important for defense and early warning systems across the North Atlantic.