White House says meeting with Danish officials over Greenland was 'productive'

The White House hailed as "productive" a meeting between Vice President JD Vance and Danish officials over Greenland that took place as President Donald Trump seeks to acquire the island territory.

Spokesperson Karoline Leavitt said Trump "has made his priority" of taking Greenland from Denmark "quite clear," maintaining that the president believes "it's in our best national security (interests) to do that."

"In that meeting, the two sides agreed to really establish a working group of individuals who will continue to have technical talks on the acquisition of Greenland. Those talks will take place, I'm told, every two to three weeks," she told reporters at the White House.

"This is a conversation the administration intends to keep having with the Danes and with the respected delegation from Greenland," Leavitt added.

Her remarks were at stark odds with those made by Danish officials after Wednesday's meeting concluded.

"For us, ideas that would not respect territorial integrity of the Kingdom of Denmark and the right of self-determination of the Greenlandic people are, of course, totally unacceptable," Danish Foreign Minister Lars Lokke Rasmussen said at a news conference, alongside Greenland's Foreign Minister Vivian Motzfeldt.

The Danish foreign minister said that "fundamental disagreement" remains after "frank" talks with US officials about Greenland.

"We didn't manage to change American position. It's clear that the president (Donald Trump) has this wish of conquering over Greenland," he said. "We made it "very, very clear" that it is not in the interest of the kingdom (of Denmark)."

He noted that it was "absolutely not necessary" for the US to acquire the Arctic territory, and that there was no "instant threat" from Russia or China.

Greenland, a self-governing territory within the Kingdom of Denmark, has attracted US interest due to its strategic location and vast mineral resources, as well as alleged concerns about rising Russian and Chinese activity.

Denmark and Greenland have rejected proposals to sell the territory, reaffirming Danish sovereignty over the island.