By Nandita Bose, Jacob Gronholt-Pedersen, Tom Little and Gwladys Fouche
WASHINGTON/NUUK, Jan 14 (Reuters) – The foreign ministers of Denmark and Greenland met at the White House on Wednesday with U.S. Vice President JD Vance for high-stakes talks about President Donald Trump’s demands that Washington take control of Greenland, an autonomous territory of Denmark.
Trump had repeatedly said in recent weeks that the strategically located and mineral-rich island is vital to U.S. security, and the United States must own it to prevent Russia or China from occupying it. He has said all options are on the table for securing the territory, rhetoric that has severely strained relations between Copenhagen and Washington.
“It is vital for the Golden Dome that we are building,” Trump said in a social media post just hours before the meeting, which started shortly after 10 a.m. local time (1500 GMT), referring to a proposed missile-defense system.
‘NOT FOR SALE’
Trump also said that NATO would become far more formidable and effective with Greenland in the hands of the U.S. “Anything less than that is unacceptable,” he wrote.
In a follow-up post citing Russia and China, Trump wrote: “NATO: Tell Denmark to get them out of here, NOW! Two dogsleds won’t do it! Only the USA can!!!”
Greenland and Denmark say the island is not for sale, and that threats of force are reckless and security concerns should be resolved among allies. Prominent EU countries have backed Denmark, which is a member of the NATO alliance.
Ahead of the meeting, which lasted less than two hours and wrapped up at around noon, Greenland and Denmark said they had begun to increase their military presence in and around Greenland in close cooperation with NATO allies, as part of their promise to beef up Arctic defence.
The increased military presence would include a range of exercise activities throughout 2026, according to the Danish defence ministry.
AVOIDING ‘ZELENSKIY MOMENT’ AT WHITE HOUSE
The meeting between Denmark’s Foreign Minister Lars Lokke Rasmussen, his Greenlandic counterpart, Vivian Motzfeldt, Vance and Secretary of State Marco Rubio, presented an opportunity for Copenhagen and Nuuk to de-escalate the crisis and find a diplomatic path to satisfy U.S. demands for more control, analysts said.
As of the early afternoon, it was not yet clear if they were successful.
“The end goal is to find some form of accommodation, or make a deal that would satisfy that need, or at least calm down the rhetoric sufficiently from Donald Trump,” Andreas Osthagen, research director for Arctic and ocean politics at the Oslo-based Fridtjof Nansen Institute, told Reuters.
Noa Redington, an analyst and former political adviser to previous Danish premier Helle Thorning-Schmidt, said concerns were high in Denmark and Greenland that Motzfeldt and Rasmussen could be treated in the same way as Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy, when he suffered a public humiliation in a meeting with Trump – and Vance – at the White House in February 2025.
“This is the most important meeting in modern Greenland’s history,” he told Reuters.
Denmark and Greenland had originally sought a meeting with Rubio, hoping to have a discussion among top diplomats on resolving the crisis between the two NATO allies.
But Denmark’s Rasmussen said Vance had also wanted to participate and that the vice president would host the meeting himself, at the White House.
GREENLAND PREFERS STICKING WITH DENMARK
Greenlandic leaders appear to be shifting their approach in how they are handling the diplomatic crisis.
Until recently, they were stressing Greenland’s path to independence. But now their public statements put more emphasis on Greenland’s unity with Denmark.
“It’s not the time to gamble with our right to self-determination, when another country is talking about taking us over,” Greenlandic Prime Minister Jens-Frederik Nielsen told Greenland daily Sermitsiaq in an interview published Wednesday.
“That doesn’t mean that we don’t want something in the future. But here and now we are part of the kingdom, and we stand with the kingdom. That’s crucial in this serious situation,” he said.
Motzfeldt had a similar message.
“We choose the Greenland we know today – as part of the Kingdom of Denmark,” she said in a statement released by the Danish ambassador to the U.S. late on Tuesday.
EUROPEAN ALLIES BACK DENMARK AND GREENLAND
Trump’s desire for Greenland contrasts with Americans’ opposition to annexation of the Arctic island, according to a new poll.
Just 17% of Americans approved of Trump’s efforts to acquire Greenland, and substantial majorities of Democrats and Republicans opposed using military force to annex the island, the Reuters/Ipsos poll found.
Some 47% of respondents disapproved of U.S. efforts to acquire Greenland, while 35% said they were unsure, in the two-day poll which concluded on Tuesday.
Meanwhile, European allies reiterated their backing for Denmark and Greenland ahead of the White House meeting, with European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen saying on Wednesday Greenlanders could “count on us”.
In Paris, France’s Emmanuel Macron said that, if the sovereignty of a European country and ally were to be affected, the knock-on effects would be unprecedented. France is to open a consulate in Nuuk on February 6.
(Reporting by Nandita Bose in Washington, Jacob Gronholt-Pedersen in Nuuk, Tom Little and Stine Jacobsen in Copenhagen; John Irish, Elizabeth Pineau and Louise Rasmussen in Paris; Jan Strupczweski and Inti Landauro in Brussels; Susan Heavey and Doina Chiacu in Washington; Writing by Terje Solsvik, Gwladys Fouche and Gram Slattery; Editing by Alex Richardson, Alistair Bell and Don Durfee)
Disclaimer: This report is auto generated from the Reuters news service. ThePrint holds no responsibility for its content.