Greenland and Denmark say Trump set on ‘conquering’ territory after meeting 

The foreign ministers of Denmark and Greenland have travelled to Washington, DC, to meet with members of President Donald Trump’s administration in the United States.

But on Wednesday, officials emerged having made little progress in dissuading Trump from seeking to take over Greenland, a self-governing Danish territory.

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

Rasmussen and his Greenlandic counterpart Vivian Motzfeldt had hoped that their sit-down with US Secretary of State Marco Rubio and Vice President JD Vance would alleviate mounting tensions over the fate of Greenland.

But the meeting failed to address key disagreements. Instead, the officials declared their intent to establish a working group to continue to address concerns about control over Greenland and security in the Arctic region.

“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 said.

Motzfeldt, meanwhile, called for cooperation with the US but said that her position does not mean that the country wants to be “owned by the United States”.

A social media account representing Greenland’s government representation in the US and Canada also emphasised the need for Indigenous – or kalaallit – voices in any matters concerning the island.

“Why don’t you ask us, kalaallit? Last time a poll was done only 6% of Greenlanders/kalaallit were in favour of becoming a part of the US,” the account wrote in a post on X.

European allies have offered to expand security cooperation with the US in the Arctic, where the Trump administration has said that China and Russia pose a threat to Western interests.

But those offers have done nothing to blunt Trump’s insistence that the US will “own” the territory, despite rising alarm from the territory’s government and European allies.

On Wednesday, Trump reiterated his position that the US needs to own Greenland for “national security” purposes, during an Oval Office ceremony to sign legislation about domestic milk consumption.

The president also questioned whether Denmark could repel any potential invasion, should one occur.

“Greenland is very important for the national security, including of Denmark,” Trump told reporters in the Oval Office on Wednesday.

“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.”

He added that  he has “a very good relationship with Denmark” and would be briefed about Wednesday’s meeting after his Oval Office appearance.

The United States already has a military presence in Greenland and could expand it further under the terms of an existing treaty.

“They have a base there at the moment; it has about 150 personnel there. But the Danes and the Greenlandic government are willing to discuss expanding the US military presence there,” said Al Jazeera correspondent Alan Fisher.

“But Donald Trump says that, unless it’s under US control, then anything less is unacceptable, and he’d like to see the US move into Greenland sooner than later.”