Denmark said on Saturday it did not like the “tone” of comments by US Vice President JD Vance that Copenhagen had not done enough for Greenland, during his visit to the strategically located, resource-rich Danish territory that US President Donald Trump wants.
“We are open to criticism, but let me be completely honest, we do not appreciate the tone in which it was said,” Foreign Minister Lars Lokke Rasmussen wrote on the X platform.
“This is not how you talk to your close allies, and I still consider Denmark and the United States to be close allies,” he added.
Vance made his comments during a visit to the Pituffik space base in northwest Greenland, which both Copenhagen and Nuuk saw as a provocation.
“Our message to Denmark is very simple: you have not done a good job for the people of Greenland,” Vance told a news conference.
“You have underinvested in the people of Greenland and underinvested in the security architecture,” he added.
Trump says the US needs the Arctic island for national and international security and has refused to rule out the use of force to secure it.
“We’re not talking about peace for the United States. We’re talking about world peace. We’re talking about international security,” Trump told reporters at the White House on Friday.
Asked about the potential use of force, Vance stressed that the US administration does not think it will “ever be necessary.”
“We think this makes sense because we think the people of Greenland are rational and good. We think we can make a deal, Donald Trump-style, to provide security for this territory and also for the United States,” Vance said.
Danish Prime Minister Mette Frederiksen also hit back at Vance.
“We have stood by the Americans for many years in very difficult situations,” she said, referring to Danish military deployments alongside US troops in Iraq and Afghanistan.
“The vice president’s reference to Denmark is not accurate,” she said, according to AFP.
