US President Donald Trump has revealed he expects his country's potential annexation of Greenland to "happen".

Trump stressed the strategic importance of the island in the arctic region, with ship routes also used by the Chinese and Russia.

NATO Secretary General Mark Rutte agreed with Trump's notions of the island's importance, but said he didn't want to “drag NATO into that” in a meeting in the Oval Office.

Trump went on to foreshadow potentially deploying more US troops to the island.

"You know, we have a couple of bases on Greenland already, and we have quite a few soldiers that maybe you'll see more and more soldiers go there," The President said.

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