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U.S. President Donald Trump
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German Finance Minister Lars Klingbeil, left, and French Finance Minister Roland Lescure speak during a press conference at the Federal Ministry of Finance on the occasion of the Franco-German retreat, in Berlin, Monday, Jan. 19, 2026.
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Denmark’s top diplomat said on Wednesday (January 14, 2026) he failed to change the mind of U.S. President Donald Trump’s administration on his threats to seize Greenland after flying to the White House for talks.

The foreign ministers of Denmark and Greenland, an autonomous territory of Copenhagen, met with Vice President J.D. Vance and Secretary of State Marco Rubio in what they hoped would clear up “misunderstandings” after Trump’s bellicose language toward the NATO ally.

“We didn’t manage to change the American position. It’s clear that the president has this wish of conquering over Greenland,” Danish Foreign Minister Lars Lokke Rasmussen told reporters after the meeting.

“And we made it very, very clear that this is not in the interest of the kingdom.”

The Minister said a U.S. takeover of Greenland, where Washington has long had a military base, was “absolutely not necessary.”

He said the issue was “very emotional” for the people of Greenland and Denmark, a steadfast U.S. ally whose troops died alongside Americans in Afghanistan and, controversially, Iraq.

“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,” Mr. Lokke said.

“We therefore still have a fundamental disagreement, but we also agree to disagree.”

Committee to be formed

He said the two sides would form a committee that would meet within weeks to see if there was possible headway.

Mr. Trump insisted hours before the talks that NATO should support the US effort to take control of Greenland, even though major European allies have all lined up to back Denmark.

Trump said Greenland was “vital” for his planned Golden Dome air and missile defense system.

“Anything less than that is unacceptable,” he wrote on his Truth Social network. “IF WE DON’T, RUSSIA OR CHINA WILL, AND THAT IS NOT GOING TO HAPPEN!”

Mocking tone

While the talks were underway, the White House posted on X: “Which way, Greenland man?”

The post included a drawing of two dogsleds — one heading towards the White House and a huge U.S. flag, and the other towards Chinese and Russian flags over a lightning-bathed Kremlin and Great Wall of China.

Neither country has claimed Greenland, and Lokke said no Chinese ship had been spotted there in a decade.

Denmark promised ahead of the meeting to ramp up military presence further in the vast, sparsely populated and strategically located island.

Mr. Trump has derided recent Danish efforts to increase security for Greenland as amounting to “two dogsleds.” Denmark says it has invested almost $14 billion in Arctic security.

Transatlantic relations strained

The row over Greenland has deeply shaken transatlantic relations. Both Denmark and Greenland insist only Greenlanders should decide the autonomous island’s fate.

In the quiet streets of the capital Nuuk, red and white Greenlandic flags were flying in shop windows, on apartment balconies, and on cars and buses, in a show of national unity as the talks got underway.

“We are standing together in these times when we might feel vulnerable,” the Nuuk municipality wrote on Facebook.

Greenland’s leader said on Tuesday that the island prefers to remain part of Denmark, prompting Trump to say “that’s going to be a big problem for him.”

Mr. Vance, who slammed Denmark as a “bad ally” during a visit to Greenland last year, is known for a hard edge, which was on display when he publicly berated Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky in the Oval Office last February.

The meeting, however, was closed to the press, meaning there was no on-camera confrontation.

Emboldened by Venezuela

Danish Defense Minister Troels Lund Poulsen told AFP earlier on Wednesday his country was boosting its military presence in Greenland and was in talks with NATO allies.

The Danish defence ministry then announced that it would do so “from today,” hosting a military exercise and sending in “aircraft, vessels and soldiers.”

Swedish officers were joining the exercise at Denmark’s request, Stockholm said.

Mr. Trump has appeared emboldened on Greenland — and on what he views as the U.S. backyard as a whole — since ordering a deadly January 3 attack in Venezuela that removed president Nicolas Maduro.

The White House has repeatedly said military action against Greenland remains on the table.

Published – January 15, 2026 01:56 am IST

President Donald Trump waves after arriving on Air Force One from Florida, Sunday, Jan. 11, 2026, at Joint Base Andrews, Md.
| Photo Credit: AP

Denmark’s Prime Minister on Sunday (January 11, 2026) said her country faces a “decisive moment” in its diplomatic battle with the United States over Greenland, after President Donald Trump again suggested using force to seize the Arctic territory.

Ahead of meetings in Washington from Monday (January 12, 2026) on the global scramble for key raw materials, Prime Minister Mette Frederiksen said that “there is a conflict over Greenland”.

“This is a decisive moment” with stakes that go beyond the immediate issue of Greenland’s future, she added in a debate with other Danish political leaders.

Ms. Frederiksen posted on Facebook that “we are ready to defend our values — wherever it is necessary — also in the Arctic. We believe in international law and in peoples’ right to self-determination.”

Germany and Sweden backed Denmark against Mr. Trump’s latest claims to the self-governing Danish territory.

Swedish Prime Minister Ulf Kristersson condemned U.S. “threatening rhetoric” after Mr. Trump repeated that Washington was “going to do something on Greenland, whether they like it or not”.

“Sweden, the Nordic countries, the Baltic states, and several major European countries stand together with our Danish friends,” he told a defence conference in Salen where the U.S. general in charge of NATO took part.

Mr. Kristersson said a U.S. takeover of mineral-rich Greenland would be “a violation of international law and risks encouraging other countries to act in exactly the same way”.

No ‘immediate threat’

Germany reiterated its support for Denmark and Greenland ahead of the Washington discussions.

Before meeting U.S. counterpart Marco Rubio on Monday (January 12, 2026), German Foreign Minister Johann Wadehpul held talks in Iceland to address the “strategic challenges of the Far North”, according to a Foreign Ministry statement.

“Security in the arctic is becoming more and more important” and “is part of our common interest in NATO”, he said at a joint news conference with Icelandic Foreign Minister Thorgerdur Katrin Gunnarsdottir.

“If the American President is looking at what threats might come from Russian or Chinese ships or submarines in the region, we can of course find answers to that together,” he added.

But “the future of Greenland must be decided by the people of Greenland” and Denmark, he said.

Asked about a possible strengthening of NATO’s commitment in the Arctic, Mr. Wadephul said Germany was “ready to assume greater responsibilities”.

Earlier Sunday (January 11, 2026), German Finance Minister Lars Klingbeil said: “We are strengthening security in the Arctic together, as NATO allies, and not against one another.”

He was speaking ahead of an international meeting on critical raw materials in Washington.

European nations have scrambled to coordinate a response after the White House said this week that Mr. Trump wanted to buy Greenland and refused to rule out military action.

On Tuesday (January 5, 2026), leaders of seven European countries including France, Britain, Germany and Italy signed a letter saying it is “only” for Denmark and Greenland to decide the territory’s future.

Mr. Trump says controlling the island is crucial for U.S. national security because of the rising Russian and Chinese military activity in the Arctic.

NATO Supreme Allied Commander General Alexus Grynkewich told the Swedish conference that alliance members were discussing Greenland’s status.

While there was “no immediate threat” to NATO territory, the Arctic’s strategic importance was fast growing, the U.S. General added.

Gen. Grynkewich said he would not comment on “the political dimensions of recent rhetoric”, but talks on Greenland were being held at the North Atlantic Council.

“Those dialogues continue in Brussels. They have been healthy dialogues from what I’ve heard,” the General said.

A Danish colony until 1953, Greenland gained home rule 26 years later and is contemplating eventually loosening its ties with Denmark. Polls indicate that Greenland’s population strongly oppose a U.S. takeover.

“I don’t think there’s an immediate threat to NATO territory right now,” Mr. Grynkewich told the conference.

But he said Russian and Chinese vessels had been seen patrolling together on Russia’s northern coast and near Alaska and Canada, working together to get greater access to the Arctic as ice recedes due to global warming.

Published – January 12, 2026 11:23 am IST

President Donald Trump on Monday (December 22, 2025) reiterated that the United States needed Greenland for “national security” after his appointment of a special envoy to the Danish Arctic island triggered a new spat with Copenhagen.

Since returning to the White House in January, Mr. Trump has repeatedly said the United States “needs” the resource-rich autonomous territory for security reasons and has refused to rule out using force to secure it.

Mr. Trump on Sunday (December 21, 2025) appointed Louisiana Governor Jeff Landry as special envoy to Greenland, prompting anger from Denmark, which summoned the U.S. ambassador.

“We need Greenland for national security. Not for minerals,” Mr. Trump told a news conference in Palm Beach, Florida, on Monday.

“If you take a look at Greenland, you look up and down the coast, you have Russian and Chinese ships all over the place,” he said.

“We need it for national security. We have to have it,” the president said, adding that Mr. Landry “wanted to lead the charge”.

On his appointment, Mr. Landry immediately vowed to make the Danish territory “a part of the U.S.”.

Danes, Greenlanders angered

Danish Prime Minister Mette Frederiksen and Greenland’s Prime Minister Jens-Frederik Nielsen earlier Monday said in a joint statement that Greenland belongs to Greenlanders.

“You cannot annex another country,” they said. “We expect respect for our joint territorial integrity.”

Danish Foreign Minister Lars Lokke Rasmussen said he was “deeply angered” by the move and warned Washington to respect Denmark’s sovereignty.

The European Union later offered its “full solidarity” to Denmark.

The Danish foreign minister earlier told TV2 television the appointment and statements were “totally unacceptable” and, several hours later, said the US ambassador had been called up to the ministry for an explanation.

“We summoned the American ambassador to the foreign ministry today for a meeting, together with the Greenlandic representative, where we very clearly drew a red line and also asked for an explanation,” Lokke Rasmussen told public broadcaster DR in an interview.

Strategic location

European Commission president Ursula von der Leyen and European Council president Antonio Costa stressed on social media that territorial integrity and sovereignty were “fundamental principles of international law”.

Leaders of both Denmark and Greenland have repeatedly insisted that the vast island is not for sale and that it will decide its own future.

Most of Greenland’s 57,000 people want to become independent from Denmark but do not wish to become part of the United States, according to an opinion poll in January.

Lokke Rasmussen said Mr. Trump’s appointment of a special envoy confirmed continued U.S. interest in Greenland.

“However, we insist that everyone — including the US — must show respect for the territorial integrity of the Kingdom of Denmark,” he said in a statement emailed to AFP.

Washington argues Greenland, located between North America and Europe, can give it an economic edge over its rivals in the Arctic region.

The island has untapped rare earth minerals and could be a vital player as the polar ice melts and new shipping routes emerge.

Greenland’s location also puts it on the shortest route for missiles between Russia and the United States.

The United States has its Pituffik military base in Greenland and opened a consulate on the island in June 2020.

In August, Denmark summoned the U.S. charge d’affaires after at least three U.S. officials close to Mr. Trump were seen in Greenland’s capital Nuuk trying to find out how people felt about deepening US ties.

Mr. Trump’s determination to take over Greenland has stunned Denmark, a fellow member of NATO that has fought alongside the U.S. in its wars in Afghanistan and Iraq.

In January, Copenhagen announced a $2.0-billion plan to boost its military presence in the Arctic region.

Published – December 23, 2025 11:37 am IST

Copenhagen:

Greenland is not for sale, its elected leader said on Monday, responding to comments made by U.S. President-elect Donald Trump regarding the “ownership and control” of the vast Arctic island that has been part of Denmark for over 600 years.

“Greenland is ours. We are not for sale and will never be for sale. We must not lose our long struggle for freedom,” the island’s Prime Minister Mute Egede said in a written comment.

Trump on Sunday announced that he had picked Ken Howery, a former envoy to Sweden, as his ambassador to Copenhagen, and commented on the status of Greenland, a semi-autonomous part of Denmark and host to a large U.S. Air Force base.

“For purposes of National Security and Freedom throughout the World, the United States of America feels that the ownership and control of Greenland is an absolute necessity,” Trump wrote on Truth Social.

Donald Trump, who takes office on Jan. 20, did not elaborate on the statement.

Denmark’s foreign ministry and the prime minister’s office were not immediately available for comment.

The Danish government must state in clear terms that control over Greenland is not up for discussion or negotiation, member of parliament Rasmus Jarlov of the opposition Conservative Party said on social media platform X.

“To the extent that U.S. activities aim to take control of Danish territory, it must be prohibited and countered. Then they can’t be there at all,” said Jarlov, who heads parliament’s defence committee.

The island, whose capital Nuuk is closer to New York than the Danish capital Copenhagen, boasts mineral, oil and natural gas wealth. But development has been slow, leaving its economy reliant on fishing and annual subsidies from Denmark.

With its Pituffik air base, Greenland is strategically important for the U.S. military and its ballistic missile early-warning system, since the shortest route from Europe to North America runs via the island.

During his previous term in office, Trump in 2019 expressed interest in buying Greenland, but the proposal was promptly rejected by Denmark as well as by the island’s own authorities before any formal discussions could take place.

Danish Prime Minister Mette Frederiksen at the time labelled Trump’s offer as “absurd”, leading him to term her dismissal of the idea as “nasty” and to subsequently cancel a visit to Copenhagen.

Mette Frederiksen remains in her role of Danish prime minister.

Since 2009 Greenland has held the right to declare independence from Denmark. The island of some 56,000 inhabitants, which relies on significant budget transfers from Copenhagen each year, has so far refrained from doing so.

Separately on Sunday, Trump threatened to reassert U.S. control over the Panama Canal, accusing Panama of charging excessive rates to use the Central American passage and drawing a sharp rebuke from Panamanian President Jose Raul Mulino.

(Except for the headline, this story has not been edited by NDTV staff and is published from a syndicated feed.)