US Secretary of State Marco Rubio said on Wednesday that he will meet with Danish government officials next week to discuss the contentious issue of Greenland, a strategic Arctic territory following remarks by President Donald Trump about the United States taking control of the island. Rubio confirmed the meeting to reporters, saying, “I’ll be meeting with them next week.”
The development comes after both Denmark and Greenland formally sought dialogue with Rubio in response to controversial statements from the Trump administration about possibly acquiring the territory.
Talks important after Trump signals interest in Greenland
Greenland is a self-governing territory within the Kingdom of Denmark, but its strategic location in the Arctic close to the North American defense perimeter has drawn heightened geopolitical interest from Washington. In recent days, remarks from the White House that “the US military is always an option” for gaining control of the island have escalated concerns among European allies and sparked demands for clarification.
President Trump has argued that controlling Greenland is important for US security, especially in light of shifting power dynamics in the Arctic involving China and Russia.
European governments hits out at Trump
Denmark’s Prime Minister Mette Frederiksen has strongly rejected any notion of the United States taking over Greenland, warning that such a move would undermine NATO and strain long-standing alliances. Leaders from France, Germany, Italy, Poland, Spain and the United Kingdom issued a joint statement reaffirming that the mineral-rich island “belongs to its people.”
Maria Martisiute, a defence analyst at the European Policy Centre, highlighted the seriousness of the situation, saying European nations do not make such statements lightly especially in response to what she described as “bombastic language” from the United States.
Both Danish Foreign Minister Lars Lokke Rasmussen and Greenland’s Vivian Motzfeldt had requested a meeting with Rubio, according to a statement on Greenland’s government website. Previous attempts to secure such talks had not been successful.
