The US Senate Committee for Commerce, Science and Transportation is meeting this morning to discuss Greenland’s geostrategic importance to the United States.

The Committee is set to hear from a number of witnesses including the director of exploration stage mining company Texas Mineral Resources.

"Red, White and Blueland" was proposed as an alternative name for the country by House Republican Buddy Carter - who this week introduced a bill around acquiring the country and renaming it.

It follows previous comments from the president about his interest in acquiring the Danish territory.

Trump has suggested control of Greenland is a “necessity” for international security.

The prime ministers of Greenland and Denmark have both previously said the island was not for sale.

Cachella Smith
Reporting from Washington DC

Here from the Washington DC newsroom I'm listening in to this morning's Senate Commerce Science and Transportation Committee meeting discussing Greenland's geostrategic importance for the US.

Since taking office a little over four weeks ago, President Donald Trump has focused on the idea of the US acquiring the autonomous Danish territory of 57,000 people.

"I think we're going to have it," he told reporters on Air Force One last month, adding that the island's 57,000 residents "want to be with us".

Those comments came after reports that Danish Prime Minister Mette Frederiksen insisted Greenland was not for sale in a fiery phone call with the president.

Today, Republican Senator Ted Cruz opens the meeting saying: "Today we are here to talk about something that just a few years ago was treated as far-fetched but has long been worth serious consideration - the potential of the United States acquiring Greenland."

This is not a new idea - Trump had previously raised this idea back in 2019. Both Denmark and the Greenlandic government rejected the proposal at the time.

Cruz continues to list a number of factors to be considered - among which is the location and proximity of the country to critical transatlantic trade routes as well as the "growing influence China and Russia in the Arctic region".

The senator further suggests the prospect of the US acquiring territory is not "unusual" - citing Thomas Jefferson's negotiation of the Louisiana Purchase in the early 1800s and the acquisition of Alaska from Russia in 1867.

Over the next few hours I'll be listening into this meeting to bring you the key lines while my colleagues listen in to the ongoing Doge hearing - stay with us, we'll be bringing you updates from both.

Image source, Reuters

A newly created advisory group headed by the world's richest man has been behind many of the most radical efforts to remake the US government in the weeks since Donald Trump returned to the White House.

Elon Musk, who Trump has asked to head the so-called Department of Government Efficiency, is leading the effort to seize access to the federal payment system, dismantle an aid agency and offer millions of federal workers an ultimatum - quit or face being fired.

Known as "Doge" - seemingly a winking reference to Musk’s cryptocurrency of choice, dogecoin, which is itself a reference to a humourous dog meme - the cost-cutting initiative was first announced by Trump after his victory in November.

You can read more about this in our story from last week.

Madeline Halpert
US Reporter

I'm tuning into the first hearing from The Delivering on Government Efficiency subcommittee, led by Republican Representative Marjorie Taylor Greene.

The House subcommittee is a partner to the Department of Government Efficiency (Doge) led by billionaire Elon Musk. Musk has pledged to implement a host of sweeping cuts since he has taken the helm at Doge, which is not an official government agency.

I'll be bringing you updates on the hearing, which you can watch live at the top of this page.

Greene has just opened up the hearing, pledging to examine how Americans "hard-earned tax dollars are spent".

Greene says this week the subcommittee plans to look into "improper payments" by the federal government, including within the government health insurance programmes Medicare and Medicaid.

We're starting off our updates with some economics news: statistics released this morning by the US Bureau of Labor Statistics have shown that the Consumer Price Index has risen by 3% over the last 12 months - following a 2.9% increase across the 12 months to December.

Weeks ago the US central bank held interest rates citing uncertainty over where the economy might be headed.

In a post this morning, the president has blamed the uptick on his predecessor - writing on Truth Social "BIDEN INFLATION UP!".

• As a reminder, Trump has previously pledged to "end to the devastating inflation crisis" - saying repeatedly "prices will come down"

Cachella Smith
Reporting from Washington DC

From Doge to tariffs to Greenland policy - the Trump administration is continuing to work on a number of areas that the president has highlighted as priorities since returning to power just over three weeks ago.

A Senate hearing on Greenland is on the agenda this morning, as is a House subcommittee meeting on Doge, the newly established division headed by Elon Musk tasked with cutting wide swaths of the federal government - though it is not itself officially a government agency.

We’re also expecting to hear some more on tariffs with Canadian provincial premiers due to meet with members of the administration and Congress in Washington DC.

They're not the only ones visiting the capital - Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi will be landing in the city later this evening.

He will be the latest international leader to meet with the president - although we're expecting to hear more from him tomorrow.

Here on the news desk in Washington we'll be keeping across these updates today while our colleagues will be covering developments in the Middle East, including around Donald Trump's comments on Gaza, on a separate live page.

For anyone in need of a quick reminder, we'll have some background information with you shortly as the main events of the day begin.