President Trump is not ruling out the use of military force to acquire Greenland after a visit to the Arctic island from Vice President J.D. Vance and his wife.

In an era of great power competition, Greenland's rich mineral resources and strategic Arctic location make it a coveted asset in Trump's eyes.

The island's semi-autonomous government has repeatedly pushed back on Trump's expansionist overtures, but the president is not taking no for an answer.

“We’ll get Greenland. Yeah, 100%,” Trump told NBC News.

Trump goes all in

The president's latest remarks came after J.D. Vance visited a U.S. military base in Greenland with his wife, Usha, on Friday. The initial plans for a larger-scale cultural visit were dropped after pushback from Greenland and Denmark.

The Vances were joined by national security adviser Michael Waltz and Energy Secretary Chris Wright, whose presence gave a stark reminder of the geopolitical significance of the tour despite the vice president's tone, which was decidedly more measured than Trump's.

Vance emphasized the United States' desire for closer ties with Greenland, pitching the partnership as beneficial for the island's security.

The vice president took sharp aim at Denmark's lightweight military presence on the island, which is a Danish territory. The United States operates the only military installation on the island, Pituffik Space Base.

“Our message to Denmark is very simple — you have not done a good job by the people of Greenland," Vance said.

“What we think is going to happen is that the Greenlanders are going to choose, through self-determination, to become independent of Denmark, and then we’re going to have conversations with the people of Greenland from there,” Vance said.

Military force possible

Breaking with the diplomatic overtures of his vice president, Trump left no ambiguity about his intentions to acquire Greenland through force if necessary.

“Good possibility that we could do it without military force,” he told NBC, adding, “I don’t take anything off the table.”

“You have ships sailed outside Greenland from Russia, from China and from many other places. And we’re not going to allow things to happen that are going to be — that are going to hurt the world or the United States,” Trump added.

Trump also once again dismissed the controversy over leaked group chats involving his top national security officials. Waltz has faced pressure to resign for inadvertently adding a journalist to the chat, but Trump re-iterated that he is not firing anyone.

“I don’t fire people because of fake news and because of witch hunts,” he told NBC.