Denmark And Greenland Officials Met With The US And Said There Is Still A "Fundamental Disagreement”
“We didn't manage to change the American position. It's 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,” Rasmussen said.
Denmark and Greenland’s foreign ministers met with US vice-president JD Vance and secretary of state Marco Rubio on Wednesday, Jan. 14, to discuss Trump’s threats to annex Greenland and said that there is a “fundamental disagreement”.
Since his first presidency, Trump had said US control of Greenland was necessary for national security, but in the past weeks he has renewed push to acquire the island.
On Jan. 4, Trump told reporters on Air Force One that he wanted to annex Greenland not for minerals but that the US needs Greenland “from the standpoint of national security, and Denmark is not going to be able to do it.”
Since then, leaked reports have shown plans from the Trump administration to give the people of Greenland between US$10,000 to US$100,000 to break with Denmark.
Speaking at a press conference after the meeting with Vance and Rubio, Denmark’s foreign minister, Lars Løkke Rasmussen, said that they had a “frank but constructive discussion”, but that differences remained.
“For us, 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 said. “And we therefore still have a fundamental disagreement.”
Rasmussen said Denmark will continue to hold talks with the US to tackle their security concerns but made it clear that the US “must respect the red lines”.
“We didn't manage to change the American position. It's 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,” Rasmussen said.
Greenland’s foreign minister also said it will seek to strengthen cooperation with the US, but ultimately “did not want to be owned by the US”.
85% of Greenlanders opposed being part of the US, according to a poll in January 2025, the BBC reported.
Cherry Mohamed
Flavie Chen
Isha Jain
