Denmark's prime minister said Thursday that Copenhagen has no intention of giving up Greenland, telling the U.S., "you cannot annex another country."
Mette Frederiksen made the comments in English as she visited the resource-rich autonomous Danish region that U.S. President Donald Trump has vowed to take over.
U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio reaffirmed the "strong relationship" between the U.S. and Denmark in a meeting with Danish Foreign Minister Lars Lokke Rasmussen in Brussels on Thursday, the State Department said.
The meeting followed months of tension between Washington and Copenhagen over Trump's repeated declarations that Greenland - a semi-autonomous territory of Denmark - should become part of the United States.
U.S. Vice President JD Vance visited a U.S. military base in northern Greenland last Friday and accused Denmark of not doing a good job of keeping the Arctic island safe. He suggested the U.S. would better protect the strategically-located territory.
Frederiksen, who has said it is up to the people of Greenland to decide their own future, called Vance's description of Denmark "not fair."
Danish Foreign Minister Lars Lokke Rasmussen told reporters after his meeting with Rubio that Greenland had not been on their agenda.
"But I, of course, used this opportunity to state some things on behalf of the Danish Kingdom," he said.
"More specifically, these repeated statements from the U.S. President with a vision or ambition to control Greenland are in no way sustainable. It has reached a point where it actually challenges our sovereignty as a kingdom," he added.
He said the U.S. Secretary of State had said that the United States respected Greenland's right to self-determination.
Rasmussen also said it was time for NATO to pay more attention to the situation in the Arctic and that it was the responsibility of the military alliance to protect the Arctic region.
Frederiksen landed in Nuuk on Wednesday on a three-day trip and pledged to support Greenland against Trump's repeated vows to control the Arctic island.
