- Danish and Greenlandic ministers meet with Vance and Rubio at the White House.
- Trump insists NATO supports US attempt to control Greenland.
- Copenhagen strengthens its military presence and launches exercises in the Arctic.
Denmark’s top diplomat said Wednesday he had failed to change the mind of U.S. President Donald Trump’s administration over its threats to seize Greenland after visiting the White House for negotiations.
The foreign ministers of Denmark and Greenland, an autonomous territory of Copenhagen, met with Vice President JD Vance and Secretary of State Marco Rubio in a bid, they hoped, to clear up “misunderstandings” after Trump’s bellicose language toward the NATO ally.
“We have not succeeded in changing the American position. It is clear that the president has this desire to conquer Greenland,” Danish Foreign Minister Lars Lokke Rasmussen told reporters after the meeting.
“And we have made it very clear that this is not in the best interests of the kingdom.”
The minister said a US takeover of Greenland, where Washington has long had a military base, was “absolutely not necessary”.
He said the issue was “very emotional” for the people of Greenland and Denmark, a steadfast U.S. ally whose troops died alongside Americans in Afghanistan and, controversially, Iraq.
“Ideas that do not respect the territorial integrity of the Kingdom of Denmark and the right to self-determination of the Greenlandic people are of course completely unacceptable,” Lokke said.
“So we still have a fundamental disagreement, but we also agree to disagree.”
He said the two sides would form a committee that would meet in a few weeks to see if progress was possible.
Trump insisted hours before the negotiations that NATO should support U.S. efforts to take control of Greenland, even though key European allies have all lined up to support Denmark.
Trump said Greenland was “vital” to his proposed Golden Dome air and missile defense system.
“Anything less than that is unacceptable,” he wrote on his Truth Social network. “If we don’t do it, Russia or China will, and that won’t happen!”
Your mocking
While negotiations were underway, the White House posted on X: “In what sense, Greenlander?
The post included a drawing of two dog sleds — one heading toward the White House and a huge American flag, and the other toward the Chinese and Russian flags above a Kremlin and the Great Wall of China bathed in lightning.
Neither country has laid claim to Greenland and Lokke said no Chinese ships had been spotted there in a decade.
Denmark promised before the meeting to further strengthen its military presence on the vast, sparsely populated and strategically located island.
Trump ridiculed recent Danish efforts to increase security in Greenland as “two dogsledding.” Denmark says it has invested nearly $14 billion in Arctic security.
The dispute over Greenland has deeply shaken transatlantic relations. Denmark and Greenland insist that only Greenlanders should decide the fate of the self-governing island.
On the quiet streets of the capital Nuuk, red and white Greenlandic flags flew in shop windows, on apartment balconies, as well as on cars and buses, in a sign of national unity as negotiations began.
“We stand together in these times when we may feel vulnerable,” Nuuk Municipality wrote on Facebook.
Greenland’s leader said Tuesday the island preferred to stay in Denmark, prompting Trump to say “this is going to be a big problem for him.”
Vance, who called Denmark a “bad ally” during a visit to Greenland last year, is known for his tough side, which was on display when he publicly chastised Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky in the Oval Office last February.
The meeting, however, took place behind closed doors, meaning there was no confrontation in front of the cameras.
Emboldened by Venezuela
Danish Defense Minister Troels Lund Poulsen said AFP Earlier on Wednesday, his country was strengthening its military presence in Greenland and was in talks with its NATO allies.
The Danish Defense Ministry then announced that it would do so “from today”, organizing a military exercise and sending “planes, ships and soldiers”.
Swedish officers joined the exercise at the request of Denmark, Stockholm said.
Trump appears emboldened toward Greenland — and what he sees as the U.S. backyard as a whole — since ordering a deadly attack in Venezuela on Jan. 3 that removed President Nicolas Maduro.
The White House has repeatedly stated that military action against Greenland remains on the agenda.
