The foreign ministers of Denmark and Greenland held talks in Washington on Wednesday with senior members of President Donald Trump’s administration, but said they made little progress in persuading the United States to drop its interest in taking control of Greenland.

Danish Foreign Minister Lars Lokke Rasmussen said after the meeting that Washington’s position remained unchanged, despite efforts to ease tensions over the self-governing Danish territory.

“We didn’t manage to change the American position,” Rasmussen told reporters.

“It’s clear that the president has this wish of conquering over Greenland.”

Rasmussen and Greenlandic Foreign Minister Vivian Motzfeldt met US Secretary of State Marco Rubio and Vice President JD Vance in an effort to address growing concern in Europe and Greenland over Trump’s repeated statements that the United States should “own” the Arctic island.

The talks did not resolve core disagreements, but the two sides agreed to establish a working group to continue discussions on Arctic security and US concerns in the region.

“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,” Rasmussen said.

Motzfeldt said Greenland was open to cooperation with the United States but rejected any suggestion of a transfer of sovereignty.

“Cooperation does not mean that we want to be owned by the United States,” she said.

Greenland’s government representation in the United States and Canada also pushed back against Trump’s comments, stressing that Indigenous Greenlanders — known as kalaallit — must be consulted on the island’s future.

“Why don’t you ask us, kalaallit?” the office wrote in a post on X, noting that a previous poll showed only 6% of Greenlanders supported becoming part of the United States.

European allies have offered to deepen security cooperation with Washington in the Arctic, where the Trump administration has warned of growing Chinese and Russian activity. Those proposals, however, have failed to soften Trump’s stance.

On Wednesday, Trump again said the United States needs to control Greenland for national security reasons, speaking during an Oval Office event to sign domestic legislation.

“Greenland is very important for the national security, including that of Denmark,” Trump told reporters.

He questioned Denmark’s ability to defend the island in the event of a foreign threat, saying there was “not a thing that Denmark can do about it” if Russia or China sought to occupy Greenland.

Trump said he maintains a good relationship with Denmark and would be briefed on the Washington talks later in the day.

The United States already maintains a military presence in Greenland, with about 150 personnel stationed at an air base under an existing treaty.

Danish and Greenlandic officials have said they are willing to discuss expanding that presence, but Trump has indicated that anything short of US control would be insufficient.