NATO Secretary-General Mark Rutte said on Jan. 21 that the issue of whether Greenland will remain part of Denmark did not come up during his meeting with U.S. President Donald Trump.
Rutte, in an interview with Fox News, was asked about Greenland’s sovereignty under a proposed framework Trump mentioned earlier in the day at the annual World Economic Forum meeting in Davos, Switzerland.
“That issue did not come up anymore in my conversations,” Rutte said. “[Trump] is very much focused on what do we need to do to make sure that that huge Arctic region—where change is taking place at the moment, where the Chinese and the Russians are more and more active—how we can protect it.”
Rutte, who previously served as the Dutch prime minister, said that the Arctic needs to be defended.
NATO spokesperson Allison Hart, in a Jan. 21 statement to The Epoch Times, said that discussions would focus on “ensuring Arctic security through the collective efforts of Allies, especially the seven Arctic Allies.”
Trump announced he had formed the “framework of a future deal” on Greenland and the broader Arctic region following his meeting with Rutte.
The president had threatened 10 percent tariffs on eight European NATO members—Denmark, Norway, Sweden, France, Germany, the United Kingdom, the Netherlands, and Finland—opposing U.S. acquisition, set to take effect on Feb. 1.
He pulled back on that threat after signaling progress.
Greenland, an autonomous territory of Denmark since 2009 with about 56,000 residents, hosts a U.S. air base and is rich in critical minerals. Trump has repeatedly said that acquiring the island is essential for national security, blocking Russian or Chinese influence, and enabling a “Golden Dome” missile-defense system.
Negotiations on Greenland have included U.S. Vice President JD Vance, U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio, and U.S. special envoy Steve Witkoff. Recent meetings included Danish and Greenlandic officials and U.S. counterparts on Jan. 14, and a congressional delegation to Denmark on Jan. 17.
Putin, addressing the Greenland issue for the first time in public, signaled on Jan. 21 that Russia would not object to the United States acquiring Greenland and said it was an issue for Denmark and the United States.
“What happens in Greenland is of no concern to us whatsoever,” Putin told a meeting of Russia’s Security Council. “Incidentally, Denmark has always treated Greenland as a colony and has been quite harsh, if not cruel, towards it. But that is a different matter altogether, and hardly anyone is interested in it now.”
