Danish and Greenland officials meet with U.S. senators at Capitol Hill

(15 Jan 2026)
RESTRICTION SUMMARY:

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ASSOCIATED PRESS
Washington - 14 January 2026
1. Wide of Danish Foreign Minister Lars Løkke Rasmussen and Greenland Foreign Minister Vivian Motzfeldt walking to bilateral meeting
2. SOUNDBITE (English) Lars Løkke Rasmussen, Foreign Minister for Denmark:
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"We will meet again Friday in Copenhagen, so we will continue our discussion. And it is important that people in Congress and the Senate emphasize that, of course, everybody has to respect the UN (United Nations) Charter and the territorial integrity of the Kingdom of Denmark. Having said that, we know that we are in a different geopolitical situation in comparison with like 10 years ago, when everybody believed that the Arctic should be a low-tension area, and everybody took the peace dividend. Things have changed. We are also ready to step up. We have done that. We've invested almost 15 billion US dollars last year and the year before in capabilities in Greenland and we are ready to do more. It should be done respectfully in close cooperation with the King of Denmark and US and in the framework of NATO (North Atlantic Treaty Organization)."
3. Various of Rasmussen and Motzfeldt walking into meeting
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4. SOUNDBITE (English) Sen. Angus King, (I) Maine:
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"We've had a base in Greenland for 75 years. We have a treaty with Denmark and Greenland over foreign national security assets. And one of the things we learned in the meeting is that they are very, the Danes and the Greenlanders are very open to additional national security assets in Greenland in order to meet whatever risks there are. So the idea that we have to own the country in order to protect our national security is just nonsense."
5. Wide of plaque reading (English) "Senator Angus S. King Jr., Maine"
STORYLINE:
Danish Foreign Minister Lars Løkke Rasmussen and Greenland Foreign Minister Vivian Motzfeldt along with Denmark’s Ambassador Jesper Møller Sørensen met with senators from the Arctic Caucus in the U.S. Congress on Wednesday.

Sen. Angus King, the independent from Maine, hosted the meeting.

It comes as two others, Sen. Jeanne Shaheen, D-N.H., and Sen. Lisa Murkowski, R-Alaska, introduced bipartisan legislation that would prohibit the use of funds from the U.S. Defense or State departments to take control of Greenland or the sovereign territory of any NATO member state without that ally’s consent or authorization from the North Atlantic Council.

As Congress shores up its backing with the alliance, a bipartisan delegation from the U.S. Congress is heading to Copenhagen at the end of the week to meet with Danish and Greenlandic officials.

Denmark's Løkke Rasmussen said Wednesday that a “fundamental disagreement” over Greenland remains with President Donald Trump after holding highly anticipated White House talks with Vice President JD Vance and Secretary of State Marco Rubio.

The two sides, however, agreed to create a working group to discuss ways to work through differences as Trump continues to call for a U.S. takeover of the semiautonomous territory of NATO ally Denmark.

Denmark has said the U.S., which already has a military presence, can boost its bases on Greenland.

The U.S. is party to a 1951 treaty that gives it broad rights to set up military bases there with the consent of Denmark and Greenland.

AP video by Nathan Ellgren.

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