Denmark’s Foreign Minister Lars Lokke Rasmussen talks to journalists ahead of a EU Foreign Affairs Council meeting at the EU headquarters in Brussels on January 29, 2026.
Simon Wohlfahrt | Afp | Getty Images
Denmark’s foreign minister on Thursday welcomed “very constructive” high-level talks over Greenland’s future, saying the conversation about the island was “back on track.”
The talks between the U.S., Greenland, and Denmark in Washington on Wednesday were designed to resolve the diplomatic crisis triggered by President Donald Trump’s repeated threats against the vast and sparsely populated Arctic island.
Speaking to reporters in Brussels ahead of a meeting of European Union foreign ministers, Danish Foreign Minister Lars Lokke Rasmussen said the meeting “went well.”
“Very constructive atmosphere and tone and new meetings are planned,” Rasmussen said.
“It’s not that things are solved but it is good because now we are back to what we agreed in Washington exactly two weeks and a day ago. After that, there was a major detour. Things were escalating but now we are back on track,” Rasmussen said.
“It’s not that we can conclude anything, but I am slightly more optimistic today than a week ago,” he added.
Last week, Trump backed away from imposing tariffs on several European countries opposing his effort to take over the self-governing Danish territory and also ruled out using force to take it for the first time, during his address to the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland.
Trump subsequently declared on Truth Social that he had a “framework of a future deal” regarding Greenland and later told CNBC he had “the concept” of one.
U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio on Wednesday told lawmakers that talks over Greenland’s future would be carried out in a “very professional, straightforward way” and ultimately be resolved positively.
“We’re in a good place right now,” Rubio said. “I think we have in place a process that is going to bring us to a good outcome for everybody. The president’s interest in Greenland has been clear, it’s a national security interest.”
‘Afraid and scared’
The leaders of Greenland and Denmark, which is responsible for the island’s defense, have traveled together to Germany and France in recent days, seeking to shore up support from European allies amid Trump’s threats.
“What we are dealing with as a government is trying to push back from outside and handle our people who are afraid and scared,” Greenland Prime Minister Jens-Frederik Nielsen said Wednesday at an event in Paris, according to Reuters.
Trump has long argued the U.S. needs control of Greenland, saying in 2019 that his administration was interested in purchasing the territory because it was essential for U.S. national security.
Residential houses stand behind an iceberg floating by two days after U.S. President Donald Trump walked back on his most aggressive threats over acquiring Greenland on January 23, 2026 in Nuuk, Greenland.
Sean Gallup | Getty Images News | Getty Images
The U.S. president renewed his interest in acquiring the world’s largest island after the military operation to capture Venezuela’s president, Nicolás Maduro, on Jan. 3. Trump’s rhetoric raised alarm in Greenland and Denmark, with Danish Prime Minister Mette Frederiksen warning on Wednesday that the world order as we know it is now over.
Opinion polls have shown that Greenlanders overwhelmingly oppose U.S. control, while a majority support independence from Denmark.
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