Trump accused of lying by key NATO ally
Greenland's Foreign Minister Vivian Motzfeldt and Denmark's Foreign Minister Lars Loekke Rasmussen prepare at the Danish embassy for a meeting with Vice President J.D. Vance and Secretary of State Marco Rubio at the White House, in Washington D.C. on Jan. 14, 2026. Ritzau Scanpix/Mads Claus Rasmussen via REUTERS

A key NATO ally has accused President Donald Trump of lying and pushed back on the president's main argument of why the United States should takeover Greenland.

Foreign ministers from Greenland and Denmark said that Trump "made up" the claims that China wanted to seize the country in an attempt to mislead his desire to purchase the country, The Daily Beast reported.

Danish Foreign Minister Lars Lokke Rasmussen and Greenland's Foreign Minister Vivian Motzfeldt spoke with Vice President JD Vance and Secretary of State Marco Rubio on Wednesday, calling Trump's claims to take the island as "totally unacceptable."

“It’s not a true narrative that we have Chinese warships all around the place,” Rasmussen told press after the meeting.

"According to our intelligence, we haven’t had Chinese warships in Greenland for a decade or so," Rasmussen said, rejecting Trump's assertion.

Motzfeldt described how the U.S. has been a NATO ally, yet “that doesn’t mean we want to be owned by the United States.”

Trump has claimed that Russia or China would try to take hold of Greenland if the U.S. doesn't act and that it's a matter of national security.

“NATO should be leading the way for us to get it. IF WE DON’T, RUSSIA OR CHINA WILL, AND THAT IS NOT GOING TO HAPPEN!” Trump wrote on his Truth Social platform on Wednesday, just hours before the meeting.