Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni has attracted international attention for her generally conservative ideology and frequent defense of President Donald Trump. This week, she released a statement addressing Trump’s recent remarks about the U.S. possibly obtaining control of Greenland. Instead of seeing it as a direct threat to Greenland, as well as the Danish government that currently controls it, Meloni thinks the rhetoric is part of a larger warning to other nations. According to The Hill: “I think we can exclude that the United States in the coming years will try to use force to annex territory that interests it,” Meloni said during an annual press conference, according to The Associated Press. Instead, she concluded that his statements were “a message to some other big global players more than any hostile claim over these countries.” Meloni visited Trump’s Mar-a-Lago estate in Florida last week. On Thursday, she affirmed that Trump’s remarks about Greenland were warnings against “Chinese pragmatism” in a “long-distance debate between great powers.” Yet, the former president didn’t completely rule out the use of military force on foreign territories. “I am not going to commit to that. It might be that you have to do something,” Trump said during a Tuesday press conference when asked about the use of force. Trump’s Greenland talk has attracted significant attention on social media: If Trump succeeds in annexing Canada to the US and buying Greenland from Denmark: 1-The US would become the biggest nation by area 21.9 million km2 (Russia is 17km2) 2-The US population would become 381,600,000 (still in 3rd) 3-The Panama Canal would add$5b annual revenue pic.twitter.com/5ySrX6wInQ — Canaaknight (@CanaaKnight) December 25, 2024 President Trump on Don Jr.’s trip to Greenland: pic.twitter.com/ck7oTEN6Cw — Benny Johnson (@bennyjohnson) January 7, 2025 Greenland is sooooo going to make a deal with Trump! What about Canada? pic.twitter.com/mww5atDqHq — Contrarian (@ContrarianTribe) January 10, 2025 A number of prominent U.S. officials have already signaled at least some level of support for Trump’s proposal, including U.S. Sen. Ted Cruz (R-TX). As The Texas Tribune reported: “The United States acquiring Greenland is a very, very good idea,” Cruz said. “To be clear, Trump talked about this his first term in office and at the time, a lot of people, particularly the media, dismissed it. They said, oh it’s Trump talking. It’s just some crazy idea. But I’ll tell you acquiring Greenland has enormous advantages to the United States.” Cruz, a member of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, said the likeliest way to acquire Greenland would be to buy it, though the would-be price is unclear. Cruz pointed out the U.S. bought the Louisiana Purchase from France and Alaska from Russia. He did not discuss a military operation to take Greenland and said there would most likely need to be a referendum among Greenlanders. He noted during an interview with ABC News that “Anything can be not for sale until it suddenly is.” “We bought Alaska, and it was dismissed at the time as Seward’s Folly,” Cruz said, referring to then-Secretary of State William Seward. Cruz is not the only senator who has expressed openness to buying Greenland. Sen. John Fetterman, D-Pennsylvania, also compared the idea to the Louisiana Purchase, saying it’s an idea worth hearing out. “There’s a lot of talk about Greenland, for example, and there’s a lot of freak-outs and of course I would never support taking it by force, but I do think it’s a responsible conversation,” Fetterman said in a Tuesday interview with Fox News. “If they were open to acquiring it — whether just buying it outright — I mean if anyone thinks that’s bonkers it’s like, well, remember the Louisiana Purchase?” Here’s a clip of Trump’s recent remarks on the topic: I am going to be building a New America. One where Canada and Greenland will be ours, I will regain control of the Panama Canal, and rename the Gulf of Mexico to the Gulf of America! I will Make America Great Again! pic.twitter.com/vxcGMWYqAg — Donald J. Trump – Parody (@realDonParody) January 7, 2025