Danish Foreign Minister Lars Løkke Rasmussen.Image: keystone
January 21, 2026, 6:21 p.mJanuary 21, 2026, 6:21 p.m
According to Danish Foreign Minister Lars Løkke Rasmussen, negotiations about handing over Greenland to the USA are out of the question for his country. Denmark will not take part in such talks, Rasmussen made it clear on Danish television after US President Donald Trump called for them “immediately” in a speech.
“We are not entering into negotiations that are based on us giving up fundamental principles,” said Lars Løkke Rasmussen, according to broadcaster DR. “We will never do that.”
Trump had previously reaffirmed his claims to Greenland, which belongs to the Kingdom of Denmark, at the World Economic Forum (WEF) in Davos. Only the USA could defend “this huge piece of land,” said Trump.
Video: watson/michael shepherd
The president said he would not use force during the takeover. “It’s positive in and of itself that he says he won’t use military force, but it doesn’t solve the problem,” said Lars Løkke Rasmussen. Trump’s ambition to annex Greenland is obviously “intact.”
After a meeting with his counterpart, US Secretary of State Marco Rubio, in Washington, Lars Løkke Rasmussen announced a working group that would seek a solution to the Greenland conflict. Denmark and Greenland vehemently reject annexation by the USA. (sda/dpa)