NATO Secretary General Mark Rutte says the status of Greenland did not arise in his talks with U.S. President Donald Trump, as Trump stepped back from tariff threats and ruled out using force to take control of the territory.
Mark Rutte said on Wednesday that the question of whether Greenland would remain with Denmark "did not come up" in his meeting with President Donald Trump.
He made the remarks in an interview on Fox News' Special Report with Bret Baier, hours after Trump abruptly shifted tone on the dispute.
Earlier in the day, Trump moved away from threats to impose tariffs as leverage to seize the island, ruled out the use of military force and said a deal was close to ending the standoff over the Danish territory.
After meeting Rutte, he said Western Arctic allies could reach a framework that would satisfy U.S. aims for a "Golden Dome" missile-defence system and secure access to critical minerals, while stopping Russia and China from expanding their Arctic ambitions.
Trump has previously argued that Washington must own Greenland to prevent either power from gaining influence over the strategically located and minerals-rich island, which houses a U.S. airbase and is an autonomous part of the Kingdom of Denmark.
Rutte was asked in the Fox News interview whether Greenland would still be "under the Kingdom of Denmark in this framework deal".
"That issue did not come up anymore in my conversations tonight with the president," Rutte explained.
He said Trump was focused on how to protect "that huge Arctic region" amid what he described as growing Russian and Chinese activity.
Greenland and Denmark have repeatedly said the island is not for sale. Both countries are NATO members.
Trump’s broader foreign policy has been cast by some experts as imperialist in nature, reflecting concerns that his approach to Greenland is part of a wider strategic push.
European diplomats said Trump’s shift in tone eased some immediate tension but did not resolve the dispute, warning that allies still faced difficult negotiations over Greenland.
Denmark said the matter should be handled through private diplomacy, with Foreign Minister Lars Lokke Rasmussen stressing the need for “respect for the integrity and sovereignty of the kingdom and the right of the Greenlandic people to self-determination”.
Spain’s Foreign Minister Jose Manuel Albares urged the European Union to move towards a joint army as a deterrence measure, saying “a joint effort would be more efficient than 27 separate national armies” and that Europe “will not let itself be coerced militarily or economically”.
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U.S. President Donald Trump said he plans to send a hospital ship to Greenland with Louisiana Governor Jeff Landry, drawing a quick rejection from Greenland’s prime minister.
A platoon of Swedish Air Force Rangers is training in Greenland as part of the ongoing “Arctic Endurance” exercise, according to Sweden’s military.
France and Canada opened new consulates in Nuuk, Greenland’s capital, on Friday, stepping up their Arctic presence in a show of support for Denmark, a NATO ally, amid renewed demands by U.S. President Donald Trump to acquire the strategically located territory.
Greenland registered its warmest January on record, sharpening concerns over how fast-rising Arctic temperatures are reshaping core parts of the island’s economy.
The Kremlin is utilising the recent United States and Israeli military strikes on Iran to validate its ongoing war in Ukraine. Russian officials are pointing to the escalation in the Middle East as evidence that Western nations do not adhere to international rules.
Saudi Arabia’s state oil giant Saudi Aramco closed its Ras Tanura refinery on Monday following an Iranian drone strike, an industry source told Reuters as Tehran retaliated across the Gulf after a U.S.-Israeli attack on Iranian targets over the weekend.
The Middle East crisis intensifies after the deadly attack on the compound of the Supreme Leader of Iran Ali Khamenei on Saturday that killed him, other family members and senior figures. Iran has launched retaliatory strikes on U.S. targets in the region.
U.S. President Donald Trump said the U.S. military has enough stockpiled weapons to fight wars "forever"; in a social media post late on Monday. The remarks came hours before conflict in Iran and the Middle East entered its fourth day.
Türkiye raised its security level for Turkish-flagged vessels in the Strait of Hormuz to Level 3 on Sunday (2 March). The development follows Iranian restrictions on shipping after U.S. and Israeli strikes and confirmation of Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei’s death.
Strikes across the Middle East are intensifying, fuelling travel disruption, driving up global energy prices and forcing diplomatic missions to shut their doors as tensions continue to rise.
U.S. President Donald Trump has said the United States has a “virtually unlimited supply” of munitions and is capable of sustaining military action indefinitely, as the conflict with Iran entered its fourth day.
The United Nations has called for an investigation into a deadly attack on a girls’ primary school in Iran, which Iranian officials say has killed more than 100 children. The U.S. has said its forces “would not” deliberately target a school.
U.S. first lady, Melania Trump chaired a UN Security Council meeting on children and education in conflict on Monday (2 March), a move criticised by Iran as hypocritical following U.S. and Israeli strikes that triggered a UN warning about risks to children.
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