The Trump administration is reportedly considering moving Greenland from the responsibility of U.S. European Command to U.S. Northern Command, which is tasked with defending North America.

Northern Command is in charge of defending the U.S. homeland, so putting Greenland into its purview is a symbolic gesture furthering the Trump administration’s belief that the island nation is of vital U.S. interest. 

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The change could occur as soon as this week, according to Politico.

President Donald Trump and his administration have publicly and repeatedly shared their interest in acquiring the mineral-rich island positioned near the increasingly contested Arctic Circle, though it’s unclear how exactly the administration can make that happen. 

The president has refused to rule out using military force or economic coercion as ways for the United States to get what it wants, which has angered local leaders.

The U.S. has had a military presence in Greenland for decades and has a military base there, Pituffik Space Base, to which Vice President JD Vance led a U.S. delegation in March.

The vice president told troops there that the U.S. believes Greenlanders will “choose, through self-determination, to become independent of Denmark,” allowing the administration “to have conversations with the people of Greenland from there.”

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Vance said the U.S. needs to “take a significant position in Greenland,” arguing that “it’s extremely vulnerable right now” in part because other countries have “explicitly gone after Greenland … with a mind toward economic exploitation.”

Moving Greenland, an independent territory with ties to Denmark, under Northern Command’s purview is a relatively minor change, but the department is considering greater alterations to the Unified Command Plan. There have been talks of combining Northern Command with U.S. Southern Command, and possibly merging U.S. Africa Command back under the umbrella of European Command.