India, Jan. 10 -- US President Donald Trump ramped up his rhetoric over Greenland, saying he's willing to secure the territory "the hard way" if authorities are unwilling to cut a deal for the US to take over the island.

"I would like to make a deal, you know, the easy way. But if we don't do it the easy way, we're going to do it the hard way," Trump told reporters Friday at the White House, according to a report by Bloomberg.

While Trump has long discussed making Greenland a part of the US, claiming the Danish territory as a national security imperative, his focus on the island has intensified in recent days following a US raid to capture the leader of Venezuela, Nicolas Maduro.

That action has sparked new fears among allies over Trum...