President Donald Trump escalated his stance on acquiring Greenland on Wednesday, suggesting the United States would use any means necessary to take the world’s largest island.

While taking questions from reporters in the Oval Office, the president said the U.S. needs to acquire Greenland from Denmark for security purposes as it competes with Russia and China for dominance in the Arctic region.

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“We need Greenland for national security and international security,” Trump said, “So we’ll, I think, we’ll go as far as we have to go.” 

“And the world needs us to have Greenland, including Denmark. Denmark has to have us have Greenland. And, you know, we’ll see what happens. But if we don’t have Greenland, we can’t have great international security,” he added. 

The president’s comments followed his refusal to rule out using military force to take Greenland, and they echoed a stance he has long made clear: acquisition of the island is “necessary” from a security standpoint.

On his Inauguration Day, Trump told reporters in the Oval Office, “Greenland is necessary, not for us — it’s necessary for international security … You have Russian boats all over the place, you have China’s boats all over the place — warships — and they [Denmark] can’t maintain it.”

Recognized for its geopolitical significance, Greenland and the Arctic region play an integral role in international communication systems, global trade routes, and military dominance.

Vice President JD Vance and his wife, second lady Usha Vance, visited the island this week to woo officials, while the president’s son recently made a pilgrimage to the Arctic region.

On Tuesday, the Office of the Director of National Intelligence released a report outlining its annual threats assessment.

“China’s long-term goal is to expand access to Greenland’s natural resources, as well as to use the same access as a key strategic foothold for advancing China’s broader and economic aims in the Arctic,” the report said.

Denmark, which controls Greenland, has raised fears about Russia and China’s increased activity in the region and the two countries’ “common ambition to reduce Western influence on global politics.” Last month, the Danish government announced it would boost defense spending to “the highest level in over half a century,” specifically citing fears over Russian rearmament. 

“Within two years, Russia could pose a credible threat to one or several Nato countries if NATO does not build up its own military power at the same rate as Russia. This calls for swift political action,” Danish Defense Minister Troels Lund Poulsen warned. 

Poulsen referenced a recent report from the Danish Defense Intelligence Service, which warned that China’s growing influence over Russia raised the risk of military conflict in the Arctic region.

“The Arctic is of considerable military strategic importance as a deployment area for nuclear-armed submarines, which can hide beneath the ice and, in the event of conflict, strike most of North America, Europe, and Russia,” the report said. “Russia and China have moved closer together. The two countries fundamentally want to weaken the West in order to increase their influence on the world, challenging our Western democratic values and our adherence to international rules.” 

During an interview with podcaster Vince Coglianese on Wednesday, Trump reiterated that the U.S. “need[s]Greenland for international safety and security.”

“ … We have to have that land because it’s not possible to properly defend a large section of this Earth, not just the United States, without it,” Trump said. “I hate to put it that way, but we’re going to have to have it.”

Experts have said treaties between Greenland and the U.S., including the North Atlantic Treaty and a 1951 treaty, have already given the U.S. expansive powers over the Arctic island. 

“The United States can basically do what it wants in Greenland,” Kristian Soby Kristensen, head of the Department for Strategy and War Studies at the Royal Danish Defense College in Copenhagen, told the Washington Post. “I don’t know of a U.S. demand that hasn’t been met. When President Trump says the U.S. needs military control — well, in a sense, it already has it.”

Still, the Danish government and Greenland officials have maintained staunch public opposition to the Trump administration’s push to acquire the island. 

However, the White House could be riding on hopes that attitudes will change as experts continue to warn that the island is being surrounded by a host of hostile powers flexing their nuclear capabilities. 

“Russia has a significant advantage [in the Arctic] level with dozens of active icebreakers, including nuclear-powered variants. China is also building up its fleet,” Nicolas Jouan, RAND Europe defense analyst and European security expert, told the Daily Mail. 

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“The U.K. and the U.S., respectively, have one and two active icebreakers. This is probably the key capability gap between NATO and its competitors at the moment,” Jouan added. 

Rob Clark, who heads the defense research team at the U.K. think tank Civitas, said, “We need to wake up to the threat posed by Russian expansion in the Arctic — while all eyes are on Ukraine, Russia is testing new-age nuclear subs and hypersonic missiles in the Arctic and building up its presence in the region.”