Danish and Greenlandic ministers will meet US VP Vance, stressing unity and rejecting Trump’s threats to take control of the mineral-rich Arctic island.
NUUK: The foreign ministers of Denmark and Greenland will meet US Vice President JD Vance at the White House on Wednesday following weeks of threats by President Donald Trump to take control of Greenland.
Trump has said the strategically located and mineral-rich island is vital to US security and must be owned by America to prevent occupation by Russia or China.
Greenland and Denmark assert the island is not for sale, calling threats of force reckless and stating security concerns should be resolved among allies.
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Prominent EU countries have backed Denmark’s position.
When Denmark’s Lars Lokke Rasmussen and Greenland’s Vivian Motzfeldt meet Vance and Secretary of State Marco Rubio, their aim will be to de-escalate the crisis and find a diplomatic path.
“The end goal is to find some form of accommodation, or make a deal that would satisfy that need, or at least calm down the rhetoric sufficiently from Donald Trump,” analyst Andreas Osthagen told Reuters.
Analyst Noa Redington said concerns were high that Motzfeldt and Rasmussen could face public humiliation similar to Ukrainian leader Volodymyr Zelenskiy’s meeting with Trump and Vance in February 2025.
“This is the most important meeting in modern Greenland’s history,” Redington said.
Greenlandic leaders have shifted their public messaging to emphasise unity with Denmark over self-determination.
“We face a geopolitical crisis, and if we have to choose between the U.S. and Denmark here and now, then we choose Denmark,” Greenland’s Premier Múte Bourup Egede said alongside Danish PM Mette Frederiksen.
Motzfeldt echoed that sentiment, stating Greenland chooses to remain part of the Kingdom of Denmark.
Trump dismissed the Greenlandic leader’s statement when asked by reporters.
“That’s their problem. I disagree with them. I don’t know who he is. Don’t know anything about him, but that’s going to be a big problem for him,” Trump said.
White House officials have reportedly discussed plans to bring Greenland under US control, including potential military use and lump-sum payments to encourage secession.
Frederiksen said the hardest part of the dispute may lie ahead, framing it as a matter of international principle.
“This is not just about Greenland or the kingdom, it’s about the fact that you can’t change borders by force, that you can’t buy another people,” she said.
Denmark and Greenland had originally sought a meeting only with Secretary of State Rubio.
Rasmussen confirmed Vance wanted to participate and would host the meeting himself at the White House. – Reuters
