White House meeting over Greenland ends in stalemate

Dave Goldiner, New York Daily News on Jan 14, 2026

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Denmark and Greenland held contentious talks Wednesday with Vice President JD Vance over President Donald Trump’s threats to take over the Arctic island, by force if necessary.

Although diplomats called the White House meeting “constructive and frank,” there was no sign of a breakthrough between the NATO allies over Trump’s unprecedented demands that Greenland become a part of the United States.

Greenland’s foreign minister grimly rejected Trump’s threats even as she welcomed increased American defense assistance for the vast icy island.

“We want to strengthen our cooperation with the U.S. but that doesn’t mean we want to be owned by the U.S.,” said Vivian Motzfeldt, who spoke in Greenland’s indigenous Kalaallisut language before switching to English. “We have shown where our limits are.”

Danish Foreign Minister Lars Løkke Rasmussen highlighted an agreement to create a joint working group with the U.S. to discuss Greenland. But he made little effort to sugarcoat the gaping division between the two sides.

“Ideas that would not respect the territorial integrity of the Kingdom of Denmark and the right to self-determination of Greenland’s people are totally unacceptable,” Rasmussen said.

Neither Vance nor Secretary of State Marco Rubio, who also attended the meeting, immediately commented.

The crucial meeting came hours after Trump demanded a U.S. takeover of Greenland, saying anything less than American control of the vast mineral-rich island would be “unacceptable” and said NATO should be backing his proposal.

“The United States needs Greenland,” Trump wrote on his social media site.

“NATO becomes far more formidable and effective with Greenland in the hands of the United States,” he added. “Anything less than that is unacceptable.”

Denmark has beefed up military forces in Greenland and NATO allies including Sweden and Germany have also sent troops, underlining Western unity in backing the Danes.

Greenland, a semi-autonomous overseas territory of NATO ally Denmark, has found itself at the center of an unlikely geopolitical storm as Trump repeatedly insists he wants the U.S. to take it over one way or another.

The White House hasn’t ruled out seizing the Arctic island by force, a move that Denmark says would trigger the collapse of the NATO alliance.

Buying Greenland wouldn’t come cheap, either. A new report from NBC News Wednesday said officials and experts believe the price tag could be up to $700 billion, even if Greenland were willing to accept being purchased by the U.S.

The tense talks came a day after Greenland Prime Minister Jens-Frederik Nielsen told a news conference in Copenhagen on Tuesday that the island’s 50,000 residents overwhelmingly oppose becoming part of the U.S., comments Trump dismissed.

Greenland is strategically important because it serves as a maritime gateway between Europe and North America, a role that could become more critical as climate change melts ice-blocked trade routes and increases commerce at the top of the globe.

Trump says it’s crucial to his planned missile defense system and to thwart Russian and Chinese expansionism.

Rasmussen said Chinese ships haven’t been spotted near Greenland in about a decade.

After meeting with Vance, the leaders plan to sit down with members of the congressional Arctic caucus.

A bipartisan group of lawmakers is pushing 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.

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