Officials from Greenland and Denmark met with U.S. Vice-President JD Vance and Secretary of State Marco Rubio today.
U.S. President Donald Trump has long mused the Americans should own the island, claiming it necessary for national security purposes. Danish and Greenlandic foreign ministers arrived at the White House on Wednesday morning.
Here’s everything that happened on Wednesday, Jan. 14, 2025.
4 p.m. EST: Trump points to Venezuela operation
Asked if he was willing to leave NATO in order to acquire Greenland, Trump told a group of reporters that “I wouldn’t be telling you what I’m willing to do, certainly. I’m not going to give up options.”
If Russia or China wants to occupy Greenland, Trump said Denmark would not have the capacity to defend it.
“There’s not a thing that Denmark can do about it … but there’s everything we can do. You found that out last week, with Venezuela.”
Earlier this month, Trump oversaw the military capture of Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro, transporting the foreign leader to face charges in a New York courthouse.
Luca Caruso-Moro, CTVNews.ca journalist
3:30 p.m. EST: Trump: ‘We’re going to see what happens’
The Greenlandic foreign minister told reporters earlier today that she made her limits clear on the idea of U.S. expansion with White House officials.
Asked if he would respect those limits, Trump said “we’re going to see what happens.”
“We need Greenland for national security, so we’re going to see what happens,” he said, adding he had not yet been briefed on the meeting.
“We’re doing the golden dome, we’re doing a lot of things, and we really need it.”
He repeated his assertion that if the United States does not take over Greenland, that Russian and China will “go in.”
Luca Caruso-Moro, CTVNews.ca journalist
2:40 p.m. EST: The ‘emotion of this moment’
Greenland’s Foreign Affairs Minister Vivian Motzfeldt took questions with her Danish counterpart, Lars Lokke Rasmussen.
The pair was asked to explain the “emotion of this moment.”
“What did Trump’s team say to you when you, presumably, told them that you can’t just take over a people?” asked a journalist.
Motzfeldt said the meeting was respectful. “We have shown where our limits are,” she said.
Rasmussen added Denmark considers the U.S. to be one of it’s closest allies, remarking that the two countries fought alongside each other in Afghanistan. And while his government may disagree with the Americans on Greenland, they share the White House’s national security concerns “in the longtime perspective.”
Luca Caruso-Moro, CTVNews.ca journalist
2:15 p.m. EST: Germany sending troops
Germany will send 13 soldiers to Greenland on Thursday as part of a reconnaissance mission with other European nations, the German government and defence ministry said on Wednesday, following demands by Trump for Washington to have control of the island.
The mission, which comes at the request of Denmark, will take place from Thursday to Saturday, aiming to explore possible military contributions to bolster the security of the region, a defence ministry statement said.
This could, for example, include maritime surveillance, it added.
Reuters
2 p.m. EST: The president’s wish
Danish officials are speaking to reporters following their White House meeting.
Denmark’s Foreign Affairs Minister Lars Lokke Rasmussen called the meeting productive. He said he and his colleagues were able to challenge the “narrative” posed by the U.S. president, but “didn’t manage to change the American position.”
Despite a conversation with “room for nuances,” the minister said, “It’s clear that the president has this wish of conquering over Greenland.”
He said he and colleagues made it “clear” U.S. ownership of Greenland is not in the interest of the Kingdom of Denmark.
Luca Caruso-Moro, CTVNews.ca journalist
12:57 p.m. EST: U.S. military action against Canada ‘far-fetched’: experts
Despite U.S. President Donald Trump’s latest actions in Venezuela and ramped up rhetoric about acquiring Greenland, both of which have renewed speculation from some about Trump’s American expansionism goals, experts say an attempt to annex Canada using military force is “far-fetched.”
“I think that even in the wildest dreams that we’re having about this horrible kleptocracy that’s developing in the United States, they would go to any lengths to avoid that scenario,” said former chief of the defence staff (Ret’d) Gen. Tom Lawson in an interview with CTV News.
Lawson said he was referring specifically to “action that would bring American military personnel in direct contact with the Canadian population, and worse, Canadian military personnel,” calling it “off the table.”
Canada’s NATO membership and close relationship to the U.S. also presents a different context.
NATO’s Article 5 outlines the principle of collective defence and asserts that an attack on one member is considered an attack on all members. That would mean if Canada were attacked, all NATO member countries — including the United States — would, under well-established norms, consider that an assault on all and be met with a proportional response.
Spencer Van Dyk, CTVNews.ca journalist
12:43 p.m. EST: Swedish Armed Forces to arrive in Greenland
Swedish Prime Minister Ulf Kristersson announced Wednesday that several officers from the Swedish army have been sent to Greenland at Denmark’s request.
In a post on X in Swedish, the prime minister said the two countries, along with several other allied countries, will prepare for Operation Arctic Endurance.
Kristersson spoke to Danish Prime Minister Mette Frederiksen yesterday and reiterated his support for Denmark and Greenland.
Lynn Chaya, CTVNews.ca journalist
Några officerare från den svenska Försvarsmakten anländer idag till Grönland. De ingår i en grupp från flera allierade länder. Tillsammans ska de förbereda kommande moment inom ramen för den danska övningen Operation Arctic Endurance. Det är på förfrågan från Danmark som Sverige…
— Ulf Kristersson (@SwedishPM) January 14, 2026
11:25 a.m. EST: Foreign ministers meeting at the White House is underway
Denmark’s Lars Løkke Rasmussen and Greenland’s Vivian Motzfeldt are now at the White House campus for their high-stakes meeting with Vance and Rubio.
Ahead of their arrival, the office of Greenland Representation to the U.S. and Canada pushed back against Trump’s continued insistence that the Arctic territory become part of the United States.
“Why don’t you ask us, Kalaallit?” the office said in a social media post, referring to the island’s Indigenous Inuit. The office noted that polling showed a vast majority of Kalaallit and Greenlanders oppose joining the United States.
Aamer Madhani, The Associated Press
10:50 a.m. EST: On the ground at the U.S. embassy in Copenhagen
Dozens of people holding Greenlandic flags have gathered to protest against U.S. militant rhetoric as Danish and Greenlandic officials are preparing to meet their counterparts in Washington.
Daniel Niemann, The Associated Press
Avoiding ‘Zelenskyy moment’ at White House
When Denmark’s Foreign Minister Lars Lokke Rasmussen and his Greenlandic counterpart, Vivian Motzfeldt, meet Vance and Secretary of State Marco Rubio, their aim will be to de-escalate the crisis and find a diplomatic path to satisfy U.S. demands for more control, analysts said.
“The end goal is to find some form of accommodation, or make a deal that would satisfy that need, or at least calm down the rhetoric sufficiently from Donald Trump,” Andreas Osthagen, research director for Arctic and ocean politics at the Oslo-based Fridtjof Nansen Institute, told Reuters.
Noa Redington, an analyst and former political adviser to previous Danish premier Helle Thorning-Schmidt, said concerns were high in Denmark and Greenland that Motzfeldt and Rasmussen could be treated in the same way as Ukrainian President leader Volodymyr Zelenskyy, when he suffered a public humiliation in a meeting with Trump — and Vance — at the White House in February 2025.
“This is the most important meeting in modern Greenland’s history,” he told Reuters.
Reuters
European allies back Denmark and Greenland
Trump’s desire for Greenland contrasts with Americans’ opposition to annexation of the Arctic island, according to a new poll.
Just 17 per cent of Americans approved of Trump’s efforts to acquire Greenland, and substantial majorities of Democrats and Republicans opposed using military force to annex the island, the Reuters/Ipsos poll found.
Some 47 per cent of respondents disapproved of U.S. efforts to acquire Greenland, while 35 per cent said they were unsure, in the two-day poll which concluded on Tuesday.
Meanwhile, European allies reiterated their backing for Denmark and Greenland ahead of the White House meeting, with European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen saying on Wednesday Greenlanders could “count on us.”
Reuters
Trump: Greenland ‘vital’ for Golden Dome
“The United States needs Greenland for the purpose of National Security. It is vital for the Golden Dome that we are building. NATO should be leading the way for us to get it. IF WE DON’T, RUSSIA OR CHINA WILL, AND THAT IS NOT GOING TO HAPPEN!” wrote the U.S. president on Truth Social this morning.
The so-called “Golden Dome” is Trump’s flagship military defence pitch modelled after the Israeli Iron Dome automated aerial interception system.
Prime Minister Mark Carney has at least considered getting involved. Last June, Trump said Canadian inclusion would cost Ottawa US$71 billion.
Luca Caruso-Moro, CTVNews.ca journalist
