Trump insists Greenland is crucial for national security after Denmark talks

Original article by Jon Henley, Andrew Roth and agencies

Donald Trump reiterated on Wednesday 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 fundamental differences remain 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.

The Danish foreign minster said earlier on Wednesday that Trump remains intent on “conquering” Greenland as the talks with US officials failed to solve a “fundamental disagreement” that has led to unprecedented tensions between Washington and a Nato ally.

It was “absolutely not necessary” for the US to seize Greenland, a largely self-governing part of the Danish kingdom, the Danish foreign minster, Lars Løkke Rasmussen, said late on Wednesday.

“We didn’t manage to change the American position. It’s clear that the president has this wish of conquering Greenland. And we made it very, very clear that this is not in the interest of the kingdom.”

Rasmussen urged Washington to engage in “respectful” cooperation over the Arctic island that is controlled by Copenhagen.

In a signal of European support, France, Germany and Norway have all said they would contribute troops to a multinational force led by Denmark that would lead to “an increased military presence in and around Greenland, comprising aircraft, vessels and soldiers, including from Nato allies”, the Danish defence ministry has said in a statement.

The two sides did agree to create a working group to discuss ways to work through differences as Trump continues to call for a US takeover of the semi-autonomous territory of Nato ally Denmark.

“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,” Rasmussen told reporters after joining Greenland’s foreign minister, Vivian Motzfeldt, for the talks.

The closely watched talks on Trump’s demands to take over Greenland ended in Washington after nearly an hour.

The vice-president, JD Vance, and secretary of state, Marco Rubio, hosted the foreign ministers of Denmark and Greenland on Wednesday in what observers worried could be an ambush meant to pressure the Danes into ceding the territory under US economic and military pressure.

Earlier, Trump said it would be “unacceptable” for Greenland to be “in the hands” of any country other than the US, reiterating his demand to take over the island hours before the high-stakes talks on its future.

“The US needs Greenland for the purpose of national security. Nato should be leading the way for us to get it,” the US president said on social media. The alliance would become “far more formidable and effective” with the territory under US control, he claimed.

“It is vital for the Golden Dome that we are building,” he said, referring to a proposed missile defence system.

Expert reports suggested it could cost the US as much as $700bn (£520bn) to take over the territory, according to US media, and European officials have played down the likelihood of a direct American attack to take control of the island.

As the two sides met, the Danish defence minister, Troels Lund Poulsen, said the country would establish a “more permanent” and larger military presence in Greenland and that it was “highly hypothetical” the US would launch an attack to take the territory.

During the talks, the White House continued its social media offensive against its Nato ally, depicting two dogsleds headed toward either the US or Russia and China, with the caption: “Which way, Greenland man?” Trump had previously said Denmark’s defence of the territory was composed of “two dogsleds”.

Trump first raised the idea of a takeover of Greenland in 2019, during his first term, but has ramped up his rhetoric significantly since returning to the White House last year, saying the US would take it “one way or the other”.

He has jolted the EU and Nato by refusing to rule out military force to seize the strategically important, mineral-rich island, which is covered by many of the protections offered by the two organisations because Denmark belongs to both.

Rasmussen and Motzfeldt initially sought the talks with Rubio but the meeting took place at the White House after Vance asked to attend and then to host the talks.

Greenland and Denmark have repeatedly pointed out that a 1951 bilateral agreement already allowed the US to vastly expand its military presence on the island.

Several EU leaders have backed Denmark, pledging their support for its territorial integrity and right to self-determination. The president of the European Commission, Ursula von der Leyen, said on Wednesday that the island “belongs to its people”.

“For me, it’s important that the Greenlanders know and they know this by the deeds, not only by the words, that we respect the wishes of the Greenlanders and their interests and that they can count on us,” she said in Brussels.

France’s president, Emmanuel Macron, said that if “the sovereignty of an EU country and ally were to be affected, the knock-on effects would be unprecedented”. France would “act in full solidarity with Denmark and its sovereignty”, he said.

Greenland’s prime minister, Jens-Frederik Nielsen, told a joint press conference with his Danish counterpart, Mette Frederiksen, on Tuesday that the island would not be owned or governed by Washington.

“If we have to choose between the US and Denmark here and now, we choose Denmark, Nato and the EU,” Nielsen said, adding that Greenland’s “goal and desire is peaceful dialogue, with a focus on cooperation”.

Frederiksen said it had not been easy for Denmark to “stand up to completely unacceptable pressure from our closest ally” but the fact was that “borders cannot be changed by force, and that small countries should not fear large countries”.

A Reuters/Ipsos poll on Wednesday found just 17% of Americans approved of Trump’s efforts to take over Greenland and that substantial majorities of both Democrats and Republicans opposed using military force to annex the island.

Only 4%, including just one in 10 Republicans and almost no Democrats, said military force would be a “good idea”.