The foreign ministers of Greenland and Denmark agreed to form a high-level working group with the U.S. but “continue to differ” with the Trump administration on U.S. threats to annex the island, the officials said.
“We had what I would describe as a frank but constructive discussion. The discussions focused on how to ensure the long-term security of Greenland. And here our perspectives continue to differ,” Danish Foreign Minister Lars Løkke Rasmussen said Wednesday after a meeting with U.S Secretary of State Marco Rubio and Vice President J.D. Vance.
Rasmussen was accompanied by Greenland’s foreign minister Vivian Motzfeldt.
“I think it’s very important to say again how important it is from our side to strengthen our cooperation with the United States, but that doesn’t mean we want to be owned by the United States,” Motzfeldt said.
The three sides agreed to form a working group to “explore if we can find a way forward,” Rasmussen said.
“Even though we weren’t so successful that we reached a conclusion where our American colleagues said ‘sorry, it was totally a misunderstanding, we give up on our ambitions’ – there’s clearly a disagreement – we agreed that it makes sense to try and sit down on a high level to explore whether there are possibilities to accommodate the concerns of the president while we at the same time respect the red lines of the Kingdom of Denmark,” he added.
He cautioned tempering expectations from the working group.
“This is the work we will start. Whether that is doable, I don’t know. I hope that it will take down the temperature,” he said.
A few hours before the officials sat down, Trump reiterated on his social media site that the U.S. “needs Greenland for the purpose of National Security.” He added that “NATO should be leading the way for us to get it” and that otherwise Russia or China would — “AND THAT IS NOT GOING TO HAPPEN!”
“NATO becomes far more formidable and effective with Greenland in the hands of the UNITED STATES,” Trump wrote. “Anything less than that is unacceptable.”
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In response, Greenland’s representatives to the U.S. and Canada posted on social media, “Why don’t you ask us?” and noted the low percentage of island residents who favor becoming part of the U.S.
Greenlanders want US to back off
Along the narrow, snow-covered main street in Nuuk, international journalists and camera crews have been stopping passersby every few metres asking them for their thoughts on a crisis which Denmark’s prime minister has warned could potentially trigger the end of NATO.
Tuuta Mikaelsen, a 22-year-old student, told The Associated Press in Nuuk that she hoped American officials would get the message to “back off.”
Greenland’s Prime Minister Jens-Frederik Nielsen told a news conference in Copenhagen on Tuesday that “if we have to choose between the United States and Denmark here and now, we choose Denmark. We choose NATO. We choose the Kingdom of Denmark. We choose the EU.”
Asked later Tuesday about Nielsen’s comments, Trump replied: “I disagree with him. I don’t know who he is. I don’t know anything about him. But, that’s going to be a big problem for him.”
Greenland is strategically important because, as climate change causes the ice to melt, it opens up the possibility of shorter trade routes to Asia. That also could make it easier to extract and transport untapped deposits of critical minerals which are needed for computers and phones.
Trump said in Wednesday’s post that Greenland is “vital” to the United States’ Golden Dome missile defence program. He also has said he wants the island to expand America’s security and has cited what he says is the threat from Russian and Chinese ships as a reason to control it.
But both experts and Greenlanders question that claim.
“The only Chinese I see is when I go to the fast-food market,” heating engineer Lars Vintner said. He said he frequently goes sailing and hunting and has never seen Russian or Chinese ships.
His friend, Hans Nørgaard, agreed, adding “what has come out of the mouth of Donald Trump about all these ships is just fantasy.”
Denmark has said the U.S. — which already has a military presence — can boost its bases on Greenland. For that reason, “security is just a cover,” Vintner said, suggesting Trump actually wants to own the island to make money from its untapped natural resources.
Nørgaard said he filed a police complaint in Nuuk against Trump’s “aggressive” behaviour because, he said, American officials are threatening the people of Greenland and NATO.
Mikaelsen, the student, said Greenlanders benefit from being part of Denmark, which provides free health care, education and payments during study, and “I don’t want the U.S. to take that away from us.”
More diplomatic efforts
Following the White House meeting, Løkke Rasmussen and Motzfeldt, along with Denmark’s ambassador to the U.S., are due to meet with senators from the Arctic Caucus in the U.S. Congress.
Two lawmakers — Sen. Jeanne Shaheen, a New Hampshire Democrat, and Sen. Lisa Murkowski, an Alaska Republican — have introduced bipartisan legislation that would prohibit the use of funds from the U.S. Defense or State departments to annex or take control of Greenland or the sovereign territory of any NATO member state without that ally’s consent or authorization from the North Atlantic Council.
A bipartisan delegation of lawmakers is also heading to Copenhagen at the end of the week to meet with Danish and Greenlandic officials.
Last week, Denmark’s major European allies joined Danish Prime Minister Mette Frederiksen in issuing a statement declaring that Greenland belongs to its people and that “it is for Denmark and Greenland, and them only, to decide on matters concerning Denmark and Greenland.”
On Wednesday, French Foreign Minister Jean-Noël Barrot told RTL radio that his country plans to open a consulate in Greenland on Feb. 6, following a decision last summer to open the diplomatic outpost.
“Attacking another NATO member would make no sense; it would even be contrary to the interests of the United States. And I’m hearing more and more voices in the United States saying this,” Barrot said. “So this blackmail must obviously stop.”
–with files from Associated Press
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