Denmark has welcomed a meeting with the US next week to discuss President Donald Trump’s renewed invitation to place the mineral-rich Arctic island of Greenland under American control.
“This is a necessary discussion, as requested by the government and the government of Greenland,” Danish Defense Minister Troels Lund Poulsen told Danish broadcaster DR on Thursday.
US Secretary of State Marco Rubio said on Wednesday that a meeting on Greenland will take place next week, without giving details about the time, place or participants.
“I’m not here to talk about Denmark or military intervention. I’ll meet with them next week, we’ll have those discussions with them then,” Rubio told reporters on Capitol Hill.
Greenland’s government told Danish public broadcaster DR that Greenland will participate in the meeting between Denmark and the US announced by Rubio.
“There is nothing about Greenland without Greenland. Yes, we will be there. We are the ones who requested the meeting,” Greenland’s Foreign Minister Vivian Motzfeldt told Dr.
The island of Greenland, which is 80 percent above the Arctic Circle, is home to about 56,000 people, mostly Inuit.
The Vice President of the United States, JD Vance, on Wednesday said that Denmark “obviously” did not do the right job in protecting Greenland and that Trump is “willing to go where he has to” to protect American interests in the Arctic.
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In an interview with Fox News, Vance reiterated Trump’s claim that Greenland is important to the US and national security because “the entire missile defense infrastructure is partially dependent on Greenland.”
He said the fact that Denmark was a reliable military partner of the US during the Second World War and the recent “war on terror” does not mean that they are doing enough to protect Greenland today.
“Just because you did something smart 25 years ago doesn’t mean you can’t do something stupid now,” Vance said, adding that Trump is “clearly saying, ‘You’re not doing a good job on Greenland.’
Vance’s comments come after Rubio told a group of US lawmakers that it was the Republican administration’s intention to eventually buy Greenland, instead of using the military.
US surveillance operations
“Greenland belongs to its people,” said Antonio Costa, President of the European Council on Wednesday. “Nothing can be decided about Denmark and Greenland without Denmark, or without Greenland. They have the full and strong support and solidarity of the European Union.”
The leaders of Canada, France, Germany, Italy, Poland, Spain and the UK joined Danish Prime Minister Mette Frederiksen on Tuesday in defending Greenland’s sovereignty after Trump’s comments about Greenland, which is part of the NATO military alliance.
After Vance’s visit to Greenland last year, Danish Foreign Minister Lars Løkke Rasmussen published a video detailing the 1951 defense treaty between Denmark and the US. Since 1945, the number of American troops in Greenland has decreased from thousands of soldiers over 17 bases and installations on the island, said Rasmussen, to the Pituffik Space Base in the northwest with about 200 soldiers today. The base supports missile warning, missile defense and space surveillance operations for the US and NATO.
The 1951 treaty “provides ample opportunity for the United States to have a very strong military presence in Greenland,” Rasmussen said. “If that’s what you want, let’s talk.”
‘Greenland Military Defense’
Last year, the Danish parliament approved a bill to allow US military bases on Danish soil. The law expands a previous military agreement, made in 2023 with the Biden administration, in which the US military had broad access to Danish air bases in the Scandinavian country.
Denmark is moving forward to strengthen its military presence around Greenland and in the wider North Atlantic.
Last year, the government announced a 14.6-billion-kroner ($2.3 billion) agreement with organizations including the governments of Greenland and the Faroe Islands, another Danish sovereign territory, to “develop capabilities to monitor and maintain sovereignty in the region.”
The plan includes three new Arctic fleets, two additional long-range drones and satellite capacity.
Denmark’s Joint Arctic Command, headquartered in Nuuk, is tasked with “surveillance, sovereignty and military protection in Greenland and the Faroe Islands.”
Islands,” according to its website.” It has small satellite stations all over the island.
The Sirius Dog Sled Patrol, the elite Danish naval unit that reconnoiters long distances and asserts Danish sovereignty in the Arctic wilderness, is also based in Greenland.
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