US Vice President JD Vance and Secretary of State Marco Rubio depart the Eisenhower Executive Office Building on the White House campus after a meeting with Danish Foreign Minister Lars Lokke Rasmussen and Greenland’s Foreign Minister Vivian Motzfeldt in Washington, DC, on January 14, 2026. US President Donald Trump insisted Wednesday the US needs to take control of Greenland, with NATO’s support, just hours before talks about the Arctic island with top Danish, Greenlandic and US officials. Hours before the meeting with US Vice President JD Vance was due to start, Trump said that US control of Greenland — an autonomous territory belonging to NATO ally Denmark — was “vital” for his planned Golden Dome air and missile defense system.
High-level talks in Washington have concluded without bridging the divide between the US and Denmark over the future of Greenland, with Danish officials stating a “fundamental disagreement” persists after US President Donald Trump reaffirmed his intent to acquire the Arctic territory. Following a meeting with US Vice President J.D. Vance and Secretary of State Marco Rubio, Danish Foreign Minister Lars Lokke Rasmussen described the conversation as “frank” and “constructive,” but admitted that the core dispute remains unresolved.
“We didn’t manage to change the US position,” Rasmussen told reporters. “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.” The two sides agreed to establish a high-level working group tasked with exploring potential solutions “in a matter of weeks.” Rasmussen said the group would focus on addressing US security concerns in the Arctic while respecting Danish “red lines” on territorial sovereignty and the right to self-determination for the Greenlandic people. “We therefore still have a fundamental disagreement, but we also agree to disagree,” Rasmussen said.
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Greenland’s foreign minister, Vivian Motzfeldt, who attended the talks, endorsed Rasmussen’s comments and stressed the need to normalize relations, while rejecting any change in sovereignty. Rasmussen pushed back on the stated security pretext, noting America’s own reduction of military personnel in Greenland from 10,000 to 200 in recent decades. He added: “we have not had a Chinese warship in Greenland for a decade or so.” Copenhagen has expressed willingness to work with the US within the framework of NATO, and has already sent in an advance command to the island to prepare logistics and infrastructure ahead of the expected arrival of a larger Danish contingent, propped up by forces sent in by several other European nations, according to Danish broadcaster DR. NATO chief Mark Rutte refused to comment on the bloc’s “internal” dispute.
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