Greenland is important for the United States' national security, US Congressman Mike Waltz said on Wednesday (Jan 8), following comments by US President-elect Donald Trump suggesting the US should take control of the island.

During an interview with Fox News, Waltz, who was tapped to serve as Trump's national security adviser, was asked about Trump wanting US control over the Arctic island.

"You have Russia that is trying to become king of the Arctic, with 60-plus ice breakers, some of them nuclear power," he said. "We have two, and one just caught on fire."

Waltz added, "This is about critical minerals. This is about natural resources. This is about, as the polar ice caps pullback, the Chinese are now cranking out ice breakers and pushing up there as well. So it's oil and gas. It's our national security."

Trump, who takes office on Jan 20, refused on Tuesday to rule out using military or economic action to acquire the island, an autonomous territory of Denmark. In his first term, Trump suggested that Denmark should sell Greenland, but the Danish government rebuffed that idea.

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