Denmark’s foreign minister said a “fundamental disagreement” remained after a high-stakes White House meeting to discuss Greenland’s future amid threats of a US takeover.
“I’m not saying anything is solved. It’s not solved,” Danish foreign minister Lars Lokke Rasmussen told reporters after the meeting, which he characterised as “frank but constructive.”
US vice-president JD Vance and secretary of state Marco Rubio led the meeting, which followed social media posts by US president Donald Trump that repeated his demand for the US to take control of Greenland for national security reasons.
“Nato becomes far more formidable and effective with Greenland in the hands of the UNITED STATES,” the president said in a social media post on Wednesday.
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“Militarily, without the vast power of the United States, much of which I built during my first term, and am now bringing to a new and even higher level, Nato would not be an effective force or deterrent – Not even close! They know that, and so do I.”
Mr Rasmussen and his counterpart from Nuuk, Vivian Motzfeldt, travelled to Washington in an effort to convince the US administration that there was no need to take over the Arctic island – a semi-autonomous territory under the Kingdom of Denmark.
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The meeting was cast in Danish media as one of the most decisive moments for the Kingdom since the second World War.
Danish defence minister Troels Lund Poulsen on Wednesday disclosed plans to beef up his country’s military presence in the far north, saying the military drill will include other Nato allies and be permanent in nature.
The Swedish prime minister announced that officers will head to Greenland at Denmark’s request.
In a second post, Mr Trump poured scorn on the idea that the Danish military would be able to deter the Russia and China from operating off the coast of Greenland as the Arctic takes on increasing geopolitical importance.
“Nato: Tell Denmark to get them out of here, NOW! Two dogsleds won’t do it! Only the USA can!!!” Trump said.
The president also underlined that Greenland is vital to his plans for a so-called Golden Dome to defend the US from missile attacks.
In advance of the meeting in Washington, Greenland’s prime minister, Jens-Frederik Nielsen, threw his weight behind the current union, categorically ruling out joining the US and said that if made to choose, the territory would opt for Denmark.
Mr Trump has declined to rule out the use of military force to get the world’s biggest island although Mr Rubio has argued that the goal is to buy Greenland.
The Danes have said it is not theirs to sell, and Greenlanders insist that there’s no amount of money that could buy their “national soul.”
For the Danes, Mr Vance’s role hosting Wednesday’s meeting alongside Mr Rubio raised concerns.
While Mr Rubio is known to be more conciliatory in private despite embracing Mr Trump’s aggressive approach in public, the vice-president shares his boss’s penchant for disruptive and unpredictable deal making.
The Danes argue that a comprehensive defence agreement dating back to 1951 already allows the US to use the territory as it needs to for defences – rendering any takeover futile.
In addition to increasing its own military presence and co-ordinating with Nato, Denmark could also offer to grant Washington expanded access.
Another move labelled the “off-ramp option” would be for Greenland to offer Mr Trump a Ukraine-style minerals deal where the US gets access to the island’s rare earths in exchange for security guarantees.
Such an agreement would allow Trump to claim victory without annexation and shift the focus from geopolitics to commercial success.
If the US decides it has to have Greenland, there are different assessments of how events could unfold.
The US could deploy additional troops in Greenland under the existing defence agreement, which imposes few formal constraints on expanding its military presence in Greenland, provided it notifies Copenhagen and Nuuk.
Once in place, those forces could move beyond routine activities to take control of Government functions and key institutions. It is this shift in purpose – rather than troop numbers – that would signal an occupation, allowing control to be established with far less drama than a conventional invasion.
Under a much less likely scenario, the US could take Greenland by force, seizing key infrastructure. Trump has already bombed Nigeria and extracted Venezuela’s Nicolás Maduro in a raid on Caracas, showing such options are in the toolkit.
While the US would almost certainly prevail militarily, Danish forces would be legally obliged to resist, raising the risk of casualties and imposing heavy political costs. – Bloomberg
