WASHINGTON: President Donald Trump reiterated on Wednesday (Jan 14) that the US needs Greenland and that Denmark cannot be relied upon to protect the island, even as he said that “something will work out” with respect to the future governance of the Danish overseas territory.
The remarks, which came after a high-stakes meeting between US, Danish and Greenlandic officials, indicate that there are still fundamental, if not intractable, differences between how Washington, Copenhagen and Nuuk see the political future of the island.
“Greenland is very important for the national security, including of Denmark,” Trump told reporters in the Oval Office. “And the problem is there’s not a thing that Denmark can do about it if Russia or China wants to occupy Greenland, but there’s everything we can do. You found that out last week with Venezuela,” he added.
Earlier in the day, the foreign ministers of Denmark and Greenland met with US Secretary of State Marco Rubio and Vice President JD Vance at the White House.
Following that meeting, Danish Foreign Minister Lars Lokke Rasmussen and his Greenlandic counterpart Vivian Motzfeldt said the US and Denmark would form a working group to discuss a broad array of concerns regarding the island that could meet in the coming weeks.
But they also made clear that Washington had not budged on its position that it must acquire Greenland, an outcome Rasmussen and Motzfeldt described as an unacceptable breach of sovereignty.
“We didn’t manage to change the American position,” Rasmussen told reporters outside the Danish embassy in Washington after the meeting concluded.
“It’s clear that the president has this wish of conquering over Greenland.”
Rasmussen added that a US takeover of Greenland was “absolutely not necessary”.
“We therefore still have a fundamental disagreement, but we also agree to disagree.”
He said the issue was “very emotional” for the people of Greenland and Denmark, a steadfast US ally whose troops died alongside Americans in Afghanistan and, controversially, Iraq.
“Ideas that would not respect territorial integrity of the Kingdom of Denmark and the right of self-determination of the Greenlandic people are, of course, totally unacceptable,” Rasmussen added.
“NOT FOR SALE”
Before the meeting, which lasted around two hours, Trump argued on social media that NATO would become far more formidable and effective with Greenland in the hands of the US “Anything less than that is unacceptable,” he wrote.
In recent weeks, he has frequently repeated longstanding claims that acquiring Greenland is a national security imperative, and that Denmark is not capable of warding off Russian and Chinese influence in the Arctic region.
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, 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.
During the press conference, Rasmussen and Motzfeldt called the meeting respectful and emphasised that Denmark shared US concerns about Arctic security. But they firmly rejected the idea of the island becoming American.
While Trump has at times portrayed the island as besieged by Russian and Chinese ships, Rasmussen rejected that characterisation on Wednesday, saying “it is not a true narrative that we have Chinese warships all around the place”.