By Ryan Morgam and Emel Akan

WASHINGTON—Following a White House meeting on Jan. 14, the foreign ministers of Denmark and its semi-autonomous territory of Greenland said they had agreed to form a high-level working group with the United States to help steer Greenland’s future.

At present, Greenland is a territory of Denmark and is covered under the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) alliance. U.S. President Donald Trump, however, has repeatedly expressed interest in acquiring Greenland or otherwise asserting control over the island territory.

Trump’s comments have met with pushback from Danish and Greenlandic leaders.

U.S. Vice President JD Vance and Secretary of State Marco Rubio hosted Danish Foreign Minister Lars Lokke Rasmussen and Greenlandic Foreign Minister Vivian Motzfeldt at the White House on Jan. 14 to discuss the issue.

At a news conference outside the Danish Embassy following the White House meeting, Rasmussen described a “frank but also constructive discussion” with Vance and Rubio, but said disagreements remain.

A source briefed on the meeting told The Epoch Times that the discussion was very tense.

In a Truth Social post on Jan. 14 ahead of the White House meeting, Trump again cast Greenland as a key component for ensuring the security of the United States.

“The United States needs Greenland for the purpose of National Security. It is vital for the Golden Dome that we are building,” Trump wrote.

Trump further stated that without the military capabilities of the United States, the rest of NATO would not have an effective force to keep Greenland out of the hands of Russia or China.

Concluding his social media post, Trump wrote, “NATO becomes far more formidable and effective with Greenland in the hands of the UNITED STATES. Anything less than that is unacceptable.”

At his Jan. 14 news conference, Rasmussen said the current framework can still work to address U.S. security concerns.

“We, the Kingdom of Denmark, continue to believe that also the long term security of Greenland can be ensured inside the current framework, the 1951 agreement on the defense of Greenland, as well as the NATO Treaty,” Rasmussen said.

Motzfeldt said it’s important to cooperate with the United States to address shared security concerns, “but that doesn’t mean that we want to be owned by the United States.”

Speaking with reporters at the White House on Jan. 14, Trump remained adamant that he’s weighing a range of options for Greenland.

“We need Greenland for national security, so we’re going to see what happens,” he told reporters.

When asked what options he is considering, Trump replied: “Certainly, I’m not going to give up options, but it’s very important. Greenland is very important for the national security, including of Denmark.”

Trump said there is little that Denmark could do on its own to retain control over Greenland should Russia or China seek to assert control.

“But there’s everything we can do,” he said. “You found that out last week with Venezuela. There’s everything we can do about things, such as that.”

U.S. forces captured former Venezuelan leader Nicolás Maduro in a pre-dawn raid on Jan. 3, after breaching the country’s air defense network. Trump has ramped up his calls for U.S. control over Greenland in the days since that operation in Venezuela.