‘Fundamental disagreement’ with Trump over Greenland, Danish official says

A top Danish official has said that a “fundamental disagreement” over Greenland remains with US President Donald Trump after talks in Washington with vice president JD Vance and secretary of state Marco Rubio.

The two sides, however, agreed to create a working group to discuss ways to work through differences as Mr Trump continues to call for a US takeover of Denmark’s Arctic territory of Greenland.

“The group, in our view, should focus on how to address the American security concerns, while at the same time respecting the red lines of the Kingdom of Denmark,” Danish foreign minister Lars Lokke Rasmussen told reporters after a highly anticipated meeting in which Greenland’s foreign minister also participated.

Mr Trump is trying to make the case that Nato should help the US acquire the world’s largest island and says anything less than it being under American control is unacceptable.

Denmark has announced plans to boost the country’s military presence in the Arctic and North Atlantic as Mr Trump tries to justify his calls for a US takeover of the vast territory by repeatedly claiming that China and Russia have their designs on Greenland.

Mr Vance and Mr Rubio met Mr Lokke Rasmussen and Greenlandic foreign minister Vivian Motzfeldt for roughly an hour to discuss Greenland, a semi-autonomous territory of Nato ally Denmark.

But a few hours before the officials sat down, Mr Trump reiterated on his social media site that the US “needs Greenland for the purpose of National Security”.

He added that “NATO should be leading the way for us to get it” and that otherwise Russia or China would – “AND THAT IS NOT GOING TO HAPPEN!”.

“NATO becomes far more formidable and effective with Greenland in the hands of the UNITED STATES,” Mr Trump wrote. “Anything less than that is unacceptable.”

Mr Lokke Rasmussen told reporters that it remains “clear that the president has this wish of conquering over Greenland”.

“And we made it very, very clear that this is not in the interest of the kingdom,” he said after the meeting, citing a “fundamental disagreement” with the Trump administration but willing to keep talking.

Both Mr Lokke Rasmussen and Ms Motzfeldt offered measured hope that the talks were beginning a conversation that would lead to Mr Trump dropping his demand of acquiring the territory and create a path for tighter co-operation with the US.

“We have shown where our limits are and from there, I think that it will be very good to look forward,” Ms Motzfeldt said.

In Copenhagen, Danish defence minister Troels Lund Poulsen announced an increase in Denmark’s “military presence and exercise activity” in the Arctic and the North Atlantic, “in close co-operation with our allies”.

Mr Poulsen said at a news conference the stepped-up military presence was necessary in a security environment in which “no one can predict what will happen tomorrow”.

“This means that from today and in the coming time there will be an increased military presence in and around Greenland of aircraft, ships and soldiers, including from other Nato allies,” Mr Poulsen said.

Other Nato allies were arriving in Greenland along with Danish personnel, he said. Mr Poulsen declined to name the other countries contributing to increased Arctic presence, saying that it is up to the allies to announce their own participation.

Earlier, Swedish Prime Minister Ulf Kristersson wrote on X that “some officers from the Swedish Armed Forces are arriving in Greenland today” as part of a group from several allied countries.

“Together, they will prepare events within the framework of the Danish exercise Operation Arctic Endurance,” Mr Kristersson said.

Two Norwegian military personnel also will be sent to Greenland to map out further co-operation with allies, the country’s defence minister Tore O Sandvik told newspaper VG.

Greenland’s prime minister, Jens-Frederik Nielsen, said on Tuesday that “if we have to choose between the United States and Denmark here and now, we choose Denmark. We choose Nato. We choose the Kingdom of Denmark. We choose the EU”.

Asked about those comments, Mr Trump replied: “I disagree with him. I don’t know who he is. I don’t know anything about him. But, that’s going to be a big problem for him.”

Greenland is strategically important because, as climate change causes the ice to melt, it opens up the possibility of shorter trade routes to Asia. That also could make it easier to extract and transport untapped deposits of critical minerals which are needed for computers and phones.

Mr Trump says Greenland is also “vital” to the United States’ Golden Dome missile defence programme. He also has said he wants the island to expand America’s security and has repeatedly cited what he says is the threat from Russian and Chinese ships as a reason to control it.

But experts and Greenlanders question that claim.

“The only Chinese I see is when I go to the fast food market,” heating engineer Lars Vintner said. He said he frequently goes sailing and hunting and has never seen Russian or Chinese ships.

His friend, Hans Norgaard, agreed, adding: “what has come out of the mouth of Donald Trump about all these ships is just fantasy.”

Denmark has said the US, which already has a military presence, can boost its bases on Greenland. The US is party to a 1951 treaty that gives it broad rights to set up military bases there with the consent of Denmark and Greenland.

For that reason “security is just a cover” Mr Vintner said, suggesting Mr Trump actually wants to own the island to make money from its untapped natural resources.