NATO Secretary-General Mark Rutte met with officials from Denmark and Greenland on Monday to discuss "collective security" as President Trump pushes to acquire the semiautonomous Danish territory.

"We discussed how important the Arctic - including Greenland - is to our collective security & how [Denmark] is stepping up investments in key capabilities. We`ll continue to work together as Allies on these important issues," Rutte wrote in a post on the social platform X.

Just met w/ ???????? @troelslundp & Greenland ???????? FM Vivian Motzfeldt. We discussed how important the Arctic - including Greenland - is to our collective security & how ???????? is stepping up investments in key capabilities. We’ll continue to work together as Allies on these important issues pic.twitter.com/0uCNaf8urq

— Mark Rutte (@SecGenNATO) January 19, 2026

Danish Defense Minister Troels Lund Poulsen said in a separate post that he and Greenlandic Foreign Minister Vivian Motzfeldt made it no secret that "we are living in a difficult, difficult time" as they took part in meetings to discuss working together to increase Arctic security.

"But more is needed. Also from our allies in NATO. That is why our joint message was also that a common NATO mission should be established in Greenland," Poulsen said.

European Union foreign policy chief Kaja Kallas stressed after the meetings that Denmark and Greenland "are not alone."

"Arctic security is a shared transatlantic interest, and one we can discuss with our US allies. But tariff threats are not the way to go about this. Sovereignty is not for trade. We have no interest to pick a fight, but we will hold our ground. Europe has a slate of tools to protect its interests," Kallas wrote.

Allies in Europe and Democrats in the U.S. alike have been pushing back hard against Trump`s claims that the U.S. should take control of Greenland.

U.K. Prime Minister Keir Starmer issued rare public criticism of Trump on Monday after the president threatened 10 percent tariffs on goods from eight European allies to pressure them into supporting his quest to take over Greenland.

Trump, in a letter to Norway`s leader over the weekend, appeared to link his threats to take Greenland by force to him not having won last year`s Nobel Peace Prize.