US lawmakers seek to reassure Denmark amid White House push for Greenland

A bipartisan congressional delegation was to meet with Danish and Greenlandic officials on Friday in an effort to show support for Greenland’s territorial integrity despite President Trump. he continued to push uto find the island.

The White House said Thursday that talks involving Vice President JD Vance, Secretary of State Marco Rubio and Danish officials earlier this week were “technical discussions about the acquisition of Greenland.” That claim was strongly rejected by Danish foreign minister Lars Løkke Rasmussen, who told Danish broadcaster TV2 on Thursday that if the US side comes to more talks in that sense it will be “a very short series of meetings.”

US special envoy to Greenland Jeff Landry told Fox News on Friday that he believes an agreement can be reached on the US purchase of Greenland and that he plans to visit the island in March.

“The president is determined. I think he’s set the record straight. He told Denmark what he wants, and now it’s a matter of Secretary Rubio and Vice President JD Vance making a deal,” Landry said, according to Reuters news agency.

The leaders of both Denmark and Greenland have it was repeatedly rejected the idea of ​​the US taking over the island. Earlier this week, Rasmussen, Denmark’s top official, said his country and the US still had “significant” differences over Greenland’s future but would continue to talk.

Greenland – the largest island in the world, located between the Arctic and Atlantic oceans – is a sovereign territory of Denmark. Mr. Trump has argued that the US needs to control the large, icy island national security reasons, to counter the geopolitical threat posed by Russia and China. The president has not said that the area will not be taken by the military.

Speaking at the University of Copenhagen on Friday, Democratic Sen. Jeanne Shaheen of New Hampshire, a ranking member of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee who attended the conference, told attendees that “millions of Americans are very concerned about the recent talk about the United States taking Greenland, or buying it or using the military.”

“Such remarks not only undermine our bilateral relations, they undermine the NATO Alliance at a time when our enemies want to gain from separation,” said Shaheen. “(Russian President) Vladimir Putin would welcome any move that violates NATO or diverts attention and resources from Ukraine,” Shaheen said.

Denmark is a member of the US-led military alliance and several NATO members have expressed concern over the Trump administration’s rhetoric about Greenland.

On Thursday, the Danish army arrived there, as made troops from NATO allies including FranceGermany and the Netherlands in an effort to strengthen security on the island.

“At Denmark’s request, I have decided that France will participate in the joint exercise organized by Denmark in Greenland, Operation Arctic Endurance,” French President Emmanuel Macron said in a social media post on Wednesday.

Speaking to reporters at a press conference on Thursday, White House press secretary Caroline Leavitt said the presence of European troops in Greenland does not interfere with “Mr.

Earlier this month, the leaders of France, Germany, Italy, Poland, Spain, the UK and Greenland said “Greenland belongs to its people” in a joint statement, while stressing that America’s NATO allies take security in the Arctic region seriously.

“NATO has made it clear that the Arctic region is a very important thing and the European Allies are stepping up. We and many other Allies have increased our presence, activities and investments, to keep the Arctic safe and prevent enemies,” said the statement.

A possible military action by the United States in Greenland could jeopardize the eighteen-year-old NATO alliance. Under Article 5 of the North Atlantic Treaty, an armed attack by one NATO member is considered an attack against the entire alliance. Any US action in Greenland would undermine that primary goal.

Article 5 was invoked only once in history, after the terrorist attacks on September 11, 2001 in the United States. In the subsequent US-led invasion of Iraq and Afghanistan, NATO allies including Denmark provided military support to the United States on the ground.