Donald Trump and his administration have repeated multiple times Greenland is critical to the national security of the US.

19:14, Thu, Jan 8, 2026 Updated: 19:46, Thu, Jan 8, 2026

JD Vance

JD Vance criticised Europe today (Image: AP)

JD Vance criticised Europe again as he explained today why the Trump administration believes Greenland is "critical" to the security of the US. The US vice president said Europe and Denmark have "not done a good job" in making the world's largest island secure in the event of "a nuclear missile".

He told Fox News: "People do not realise that the entire missile defence infrastructure is partially dependent on Greenland. If God forbid the Russians and the Chinese – not saying they’re going to – but if, God forbid, somebody launched a nuclear missile into our continent, they launched a nuclear missile at Europe, Greenland is a critical part of that missile defence.

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Trump claims it's in the interest of US national security to seize Greenland. (Image: Getty Images)

"So you ask yourself, ‘have the Europeans, have the Danes done a proper job of securing Greenland and of making sure it can continue to serve as an anchor for world security and missile defence?’ And the answer is obviously they haven’t."

Donald Trump and his administration have repeatedly issued called to seize Greenland - a semi-autonomous territory of Denmark - and refused to rule out the use of force.

The US president claims it is in the interest of his country's national security to "acquire" the country, according to a White House statement shared with Reuters.

It read: "President Trump has made it well known that acquiring Greenland is a national security priority of the United States, and it's vital to deter our adversaries in the Arctic region.

"The president and his team are discussing a range of options to pursue this important foreign policy goal, and of course, utilizing the U.S. military is always an option at the commander-in-chief's disposal."

This is also not the first time Mr Vance has slammed Europe for a perceived weakness. In a speech at the the Munich Security Conference last year, he urged the continent to "step up in a big way to provide for its own defence".

He then accused Europen government's of ignoring voter concerns on migration and free speech.

The VP blindly alleged that EU "commissars" were suppressing free speech and retreating from "some of its most fundamental values", blaming them for mass migration across the continent.