The White House is looking at brokering a free trade agreement between the United States and Iceland, according to a new report.
Axios reported that President Donald Trump's administration, which has renegotiated a new trade deal with Canada and Mexico but is still working with China on trade, is interested in Iceland because of its location in the North Atlantic.
"There is a national security importance to that region — being able to strike trade deals and build an alliance with us and not China or Russia," an administration official told Axios.
Iceland is a NATO member. At a lunch attended by Pence and Republican lawmakers last week, Sen. John Kennedy, R-La., voiced support for a U.S.-Iceland free trade deal. Sen. Lisa Murkowski, R-Alaska, said she also would support it, Axios reported.
Iceland lies off the eastern coast of Greenland, a strategically located territory of Denmark. Trump recently proposed a U.S. purchase of Greenland, an idea publicly rebuffed by the leaders of Greenland and Denmark.