Denmark says fundamental disagreement with U.S. remains after Greenland talks

Denmark's foreign minister said a "fundamental disagreement" with the United States remains after high-level talks in Washington focused on President Donald Trump's repeated push for American control of Greenland. Delegations from Denmark and Greenland met with U.S. officials at the White House and later held a news conference at the Embassy of Denmark in Washington, D.C., where the parties agreed to form a working group to try to narrow differences.

The Danish delegation was led by Foreign Minister Lars Løkke Rasmussen and included Greenland's foreign minister Vivian Motzfeldt and Denmark's ambassador to the United States. The U.S. side was represented at the White House by Vice President JD Vance and Secretary of State Marco Rubio; President Trump did not attend the meeting. Afterward, Trump told reporters in the Oval Office, "We need Greenland for national security."

Rasmussen described the discussions as "frank but constructive," but acknowledged bluntly, "we didn't manage to change the American position." He said the newly created working group "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 also reiterated a pointed assessment of the president's stance, saying "it's clear that the president has this wish of conquering over Greenland."

Greenlandic Foreign Minister Vivian Motzfeldt told U.S. officials that Greenland is open to deeper cooperation on security and infrastructure but firmly opposes any transfer of sovereignty. "We have shown where our limits are," she said at the embassy briefing. Danish officials have reiterated that sovereignty is nonnegotiable; the United States, which already operates military facilities on the island, may expand its presence only with Danish and Greenlandic consent, they said.

The talks occurred against a backdrop of longstanding military arrangements. A 1951 treaty gives the United States broad rights to establish military bases in Greenland with the consent of Denmark and Greenland. The U.S. maintains a permanent presence at Pituffik, also known as Thule Air Base, in northwest Greenland, with more than 100 military personnel permanently stationed there. U.S. forces have operated facilities on the island since World War II, and Washington has framed interest in Greenland as a response to strategic competition with China and Russia.

Danish officials announced plans to bolster Denmark's military posture in the Arctic and the North Atlantic amid the dispute and heightened strategic tensions. Rasmussen and Motzfeldt scheduled follow-up meetings with U.S. senators from the Arctic Caucus, and a bipartisan delegation of U.S. lawmakers planned to travel to Copenhagen to meet Danish and Greenlandic officials later in the week. Vice President Vance and Secretary Rubio did not immediately comment publicly after the talks.

By agreeing to a working group, both capitals signaled a desire to manage friction through diplomacy rather than escalation, even as core policy differences endure. The outcome leaves intact Denmark's sovereignty red lines while acknowledging Washington's persistent national security concerns, setting the stage for a measured, politically sensitive effort to reconcile competing strategic priorities in the Arctic.