(Copenhagen) Leaders of Denmark and Greenland will meet US Vice President JD Vance, who made very harsh remarks towards Copenhagen last year, at the White House on Wednesday for a high-tension meeting concerning the future of the Arctic territory.
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Donald Trump has further increased Danish and Greenlandic concerns in recent days, declaring on Sunday that he would seize “one way or another” the autonomous Danish territory, which for its part repeats that it is not for sale.
The head of Greenlandic diplomacy Vivian Motzfeldt requested a meeting last week with her American counterpart Marco Rubio.
“American Vice President JD Vance also wished to participate in this meeting and will host it. It will therefore be held at the White House” in the presence of Mr. Rubio, Foreign Minister Lars Løkke Rasmussen told the press.
In the spring, when President Trump had already expressed the wish to take control of the island, JD Vance announced an unsolicited visit to Greenland.
Faced with the outcry, he confined it to the American air base at Pituffik in the northwest of the territory.
During this visit of a few hours, he castigated the Danish commitment to Greenland and Arctic security, describing the Scandinavian kingdom as a “bad ally”, provoking the ire of Copenhagen.
A fervent defender of transatlanticism, Denmark has notably sent troops to the Americans in Iraq and Afghanistan.
“The United States should instead thank Denmark, which over the years has been a very loyal ally,” Swedish Prime Minister Ulf Kristersson, whose country is the newest member of NATO, recalled on Sunday.
Dispelling “misunderstandings”
For Nuuk and Copenhagen, this meeting should make it possible to dispel “misunderstandings”, whether on defense, the Chinese and military presence, but also the relationship between the two entities, members like the Faroe Islands of the community of the Kingdom of Denmark.
“To an uninformed American listener, the ongoing talks between Denmark and Greenland may have given the impression that a secession of Greenland from Denmark was imminent, and I can understand that, in such a situation, it would have seemed preferable to the Americans to seize this strategic location,” Mikaela Engell, specialist in the Arctic territory and former Danish representative there, told AFP.
“These discussions have been going on for years and years, and it never meant that Greenland was about to slam the door,” she said.
Faced with American criticism of its military commitment, which is very insufficient against Russia and China according to Washington, the Danish government recently recalled having invested nearly 90 billion crowns (19.4 billion Canadian dollars) to strengthen its military presence in the Arctic.
For the head of the Danish diplomat, Wednesday’s meeting should make it possible to “move this whole discussion (on Greenland), which has not relaxed (…), into a meeting room, where we can look each other in the eye and talk about the subjects in question”.
Meeting with NATO
He goes to Washington with Mme Motzfeldt will then attend a meeting with NATO Secretary General Mark Rutte on Monday, announced by the Danish Defense Minister, to discuss Arctic security.
Denmark and Greenland are banking on the Atlantic Alliance to ensure the defense of the immense Arctic island.
“We are moving forward on the issue of a more permanent and larger presence in Greenland from the Danish armed forces, but also from other countries,” Defense Minister Troels Lund Poulsen told reporters.
In 2025, several NATO countries, including France and Germany, participated in exercises in Greenland.
France and Germany have, along with Italy, Great Britain and Poland and Spain, expressed their support for Greenland and Denmark.
After a meeting with Secretary of State Marco Rubio on Monday, the head of German diplomacy Johann Wadephul affirmed that a forcible annexation of Greenland by the United States did not seem to him to be “seriously considered”.
A Republican elected official proposes making Greenland the 51ste State
A Republican representative from Florida introduced a bill to make Greenland the 51ste State of the United States as the Trump administration threatens to seize the huge autonomous territory controlled by Denmark, the United States’ NATO ally.
The text, entitled “An Act on the annexation and admission of Greenland into the Union”, was presented Monday by Representative Randy Fine, the office of this Republican elected official said in a press release.
“Greenland is not a distant outpost that we can afford to ignore. It is a vital asset for national security,” said Mr. Fine in his press release.
“Who controls Greenland controls key Arctic shipping lanes and the security architecture that protects the United States. America cannot leave its future in the hands of regimes that disregard our values and seek to undermine our security,” he argued.
According to the two-page bill, President Trump would be authorized “to take any action necessary to annex Greenland or acquire it as a territory of the United States.”
