President Trump is not giving up in his pursuit of the U.S. owning Greenland, despite the complete rejection of such a move by officials from Copenhagen and Nuuk. 

There remains a “fundamental disagreement” between the positions of Denmark, Greenland and the U.S., Denmark’s Foreign Minister Lars Løkke Rasmussen told reporters following a meeting with Vice President Vance and Secretary of State Marco Rubio at the White House on Wednesday.

Rasmussen appeared alongside Greenland’s Foreign Minister Vivian Motzfeldt outside the Danish Embassy in Washington.

The meeting marked the first senior-level engagement between Washington, Copenhagen and Nuuk since Trump revived his desire to take over Greenland, Rasmussen said, and the three sides agreed to establish a high-level working group to address U.S. security concerns on the island. 

“The discussions focused on how to ensure the long-term security in Greenland, and here our perspectives continue to differ,” Rasmussen said.

“The president has made his view clear, and we have a different position.” 

Denmark owns the territory of Greenland and is responsible for its security, but the island country has an autonomous government. 

“We have decided to form a high-level working group to explore if we can find a common way forward,” Rasmussen said. 

“The group, in our view, should focus on how to address the American security concerns, while at the same time, respecting the red lines of the kingdom of Denmark.”

The group is expected to meet for the first time in a couple of weeks, he said, adding it is “absolutely not necessary” for the U.S. to own Greenland. 

Motzfeldt said Greenland is committed to finding the “right path” and strengthening security cooperation with the U.S.

“That does not mean we want to be owned by the United States. But as allies, how we can strengthen our cooperation is our interest,” she said. 

Rasmussen added that the meeting was an opportunity to “challenge” Trump’s narrative on the island, including that it is under threat from China.

“It is not a true narrative that we have Chinese warships all around the place. According to our intelligence, we haven’t had a Chinese worship in Greenland for a decade or so,” Rasmussen said.