Greenland and Denmark ministers hold talks with Vance after Trump threat
Denmark’s foreign minister Lars Loekke Rasmussen, left, ahead of his meeting with JD Vance(Mads Claus Rasmussen/Ritzau Scanpix via AP)
Ministers from Greenland and Denmark have met in Washington with top White House officials as President Donald Trump moved to ratchet up the pressure by suggesting that Nato should help the United States acquire the world’s largest island.
As the senior officials held talks in Washington, Denmark announced plans to boost the country’s military presence in the Arctic and North Atlantic as Mr Trump tried to justify his calls for a US takeover of the vast territory by repeatedly claiming that China and Russia have their designs on Greenland.
Vice President JD Vance and Secretary of State Marco Rubio met Danish foreign minister Lars 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.”
In response, Greenland’s representatives to the US and Canada posted on social media, “Why don’t you ask us?”, and noted the low percentage of island residents who favour becoming part of the US.
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 cooperation 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 the 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.
Along the narrow, snow-covered main street in Nuuk, international journalists and camera crews have been stopping passers-by asking them for their thoughts on a crisis which Denmark’s prime minister has warned could potentially trigger the end of Nato.
Tuuta Mikaelsen, a 22-year-old student, told The Associated Press in Nuuk that she hoped American officials would get the message to “back off”.
Greenland’s Prime Minister Jens-Frederik Nielsen told a news conference in the Danish capital Copenhagen 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 later on Tuesday about Mr Nielsen’s 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.
Denmark has vowed for months to strengthen its military presence there. The Defence Ministry said that, starting on Wednesday, the military is deploying “capabilities and units” related to exercises.
“In the period ahead, this will result in an increased military presence in and around Greenland, comprising aircraft, vessels and soldiers, including from Nato allies,” it said in a statement.
Defence minister Troels Lund Poulsen said that the Danish military, “together with a number of Arctic and European allies, will explore in the coming weeks how an increased presence and exercise activity in the Arctic can be implemented in practice”.
Mr Trump said in Wednesday’s post that Greenland is “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 cited what he says is the threat from Russian and Chinese ships as a reason to control it.
But both 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. 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.
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