JD Vance will host a meeting with the foreign ministers of Greenland and Denmark amid rising tensions over Donald Trump’s push to gain control of the Arctic island.
According to The Guardian, Denmark’s top diplomat, Lars Løkke Rasmussen, said he and his Greenlandic counterpart, Vivian Motzfeldt, had requested the meeting with the US secretary of state, Marco Rubio, and the vice-president had asked to take part and would host it at the White House on Wednesday, January 14.
Rasmussen told reporters in Copenhagen on Tuesday, "Our reason for seeking the meeting we have now been given was to move this whole discussion … into a meeting room where we can look each other in the eye and talk about these things."
Trump first floated the idea of a US takeover of Greenland, a largely self-governing part of Denmark, in 2019, during his first term. But he has significantly ramped up his rhetoric this month, saying the US would take it “one way or the other”.
The US president has shocked the EU and Nato by refusing to rule out using military force to seize the strategically located, mineral-rich island.
This is despite Greenland being covered by many of the protections offered by the two blocs because Denmark belongs to both.
The Danish prime minister, Mette Frederiksen, has said a US invasion would lead to the end of Nato and European leaders have pledged their support for Greenland’s territorial integrity and right to self-determination.
