Danish leader tells the US 'you cannot annex another country' as she visits Greenland

NUUK, Greenland (AP) — Denmark's prime minister has told the U.S. during a visit to Greenland that “you cannot annex another country,” even with the argument that international security is at stake.

U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio, meanwhile, said on Friday that Washington will respect Greenland's self-determination and Copenhagen “should focus on the fact that the Greenlanders don’t want to be a part of Denmark.”

Danish Prime Minister Mette Frederiksen was wrapping up a three-day visit to the strategically critical Arctic island on Friday as U.S. President Donald Trump seeks control of Greenland. He argues that Greenland, a semiautonomous territory belonging to the Kingdom of Denmark, is critical to U.S. security.

A week ago, Vice President JD Vance visited a remote U.S. military base in Greenland and accused Denmark of underinvesting in the territory.

Frederiksen pushed back against the U.S. criticism as she spoke on Thursday alongside Greenland's incoming and outgoing leaders on board a Danish naval ship. She argued that Denmark, a NATO ally, has been a reliable friend.

Speaking in English, she said that “if we let ourselves be divided as allies, then we do our foes a favor. And I will do everything that I can to prevent that from happening.”

“When you ask our businesses to invest in the U.S., they do. When you ask us to spend more on our defense, we do; and when you ask of us to strengthen security in the Arctic, we are on the same page,” she said.

“But when you demand to take over a part of the Kingdom of Denmark’s territory, when we are met by pressure and by threats from our closest ally, what are we to believe in about the country that we have admired for so many years?”

“This is about the world order that we have built together across the Atlantic over generations: you cannot annex another country, not even with an argument about international security,” Frederiksen said.

The Danish leader said that, if the U.S. wants to strengthen security in the Arctic, “let us do so together.”

Political parties in Greenland, which has been leaning toward eventual independence from Denmark for years, last week agreed to form a broad-based new coalition government in the face of Trump's designs on the territory. Those have angered many in Greenland and Denmark.

In an interview with Newsmax on Thursday, Vance repeated the accusation that Denmark has “really underinvested in the infrastructure and security of Greenland.”

He said Trump's point is that “this matters to our security, this matters to our missile defense, and we're going to protect America's interests come hell or high water.”

Danish Foreign Minister Lars Løkke Rasmussen, who was attending a meeting in Brussels with his NATO counterparts, wrote on social network X that he had an “honest and direct” meeting Thursday with Rubio.

“I made it crystal clear that claims and statements about annexing Greenland are not only unacceptable and disrespectful,” Løkke Rasmussen wrote. “They amount to a violation of international law.”

Rubio told reporters in Brussels Friday that “no one's annexed anything.” He added that Vance has made clear that “he's going to respect the self-determination of Greenlanders.”

“Denmark should focus on the fact that the Greenlanders don’t want to be a part of Denmark," Rubio said.

“We didn’t give them that idea. They’ve been talking about that for a long time,” he said. "Whenever they make that decision, they’ll make that decision.”

“If they make that decision, then the United States would stand ready, potentially, to step in and say, okay, we can create a partnership with you," Rubio said, adding that "we’re not at that stage.”

Denmark's Prime Minister Mette Frederiksen and her husband Bo Tengberg aboard the Danish Navy inspection vessel Vaedderen together with Greenland's acting head of government Múte Bourup Egede, center left, and newly elected head of government, Jens-Frederik Nielsen, left, in the waters around Nuuk, Greenland, Thursday, April 3, 2025. (Mads Claus Rasmussen/Ritzau Scanpix via AP)

Denmark's Prime Minister Mette Frederiksen speaks with the head of the Arctic Command, Soeren Andersen, aboard the Defense's inspection vessel Vaedderen, in the waters around Nuuk, Greenland, Thursday, April 3, 2025. (Mads Claus Rasmussen/Ritzau Scanpix via AP)

Denmark's Prime Minister Mette Frederiksen, left, Greenlands acting head of government Múte Bourup Egede, right, and newly elected head of government, Jens-Frederik Nielsen, center, prepare to embark on a trip with a Danish Navy Sea Hawk helicopter from the Danish Navy inspection ship Vaedderen, in the waters around Nuuk, Greenland, Thursday, April 3, 2025. (Mads Claus Rasmussen/Ritzau Scanpix via AP)

Denmark's Prime Minister Mette Frederiksen and Greenland's new Prime Minister, Jens-Frederik Nielsen, not pictured, on a bus tour during her three-day visit around Nuuk, Greenland, Wednesday, April 2, 2025. (Mads Claus Rasmussen/Ritzau Scanpix via AP)

Denmark's Prime Minister Mette Frederiksen visits Greenland Business, Greenland's largest business organization, together with Greenland's new Prime Minister, Jens-Frederik Nielsen, during a three-day visit in Nuuk, Greenland, Wednesday, April 2, 2025. (Photo: Mads Claus Rasmussen/Ritzau Scanpix)

Denmark's Prime Minister Mette Frederiksen aboard the Danish Navy inspection vessel Vaedderen together with Greenland's acting head of government Múte Bourup Egede and newly elected head of government, Jens-Frederik Nielsen in the waters around Nuuk, Greenland, Thursday, April 3, 2025. (Mads Claus Rasmussen/Ritzau Scanpix via AP)

Denmark's Prime Minister Mette Frederiksen, center, Greenlands acting head of government Múte Bourup Egede, right, and newly elected head of government, Jens-Frederik Nielsen, walk after a trip with a Danish Navy Sea Hawk helicopter from the Danish Navy inspection ship Vaedderen, in the waters around Nuuk, Greenland, Thursday, April 3, 2025. (Mads Claus Rasmussen/Ritzau Scanpix via AP)

Denmark's Prime Minister Mette Frederiksen, Greenland's acting head of government Múte Bourup Egede, right, and newly elected head of government Jens-Frederik Nielsen, center, hold a press conference aboard the Danish Navy inspection ship Vaedderen, in Nuuk, Greenland, Thursday, April 3, 2025. (Mads Claus Rasmussen/Ritzau Scanpix via AP)

Denmark's Prime Minister Mette Frederiksen, right, Greenlands acting head of government Múte Bourup Egede, center, and newly elected head of government, Jens-Frederik Nielsen, left, speak aboard the Defense's inspection vessel Vaedderen, in the waters around Nuuk, Greenland, Thursday, April 3, 2025. (Mads Claus Rasmussen/Ritzau Scanpix via AP)

CARACAS, Venezuela (AP) — President Donald Trump is set to meet Thursday at the White House with Venezuelan opposition leader María Corina Machado, whose political party is widely considered to have won 2024 elections rejected by then-President Nicolás Maduro before the United States captured him in an audacious military raid this month.

Less than two weeks after U.S. forces seized Maduro and his wife at a heavily guarded compound in Caracas and brought them to New York to stand trial on drug trafficking charges, Trump will host the Nobel Peace Prize laureate Machado, having already dismissed her credibility to run Venezuela and raised doubts about his stated commitment to backing democratic rule in the country.

“She’s a very nice woman,” Trump told Reuters in an interview about Machado. “I’ve seen her on television. I think we’re just going to talk basics.”

The meeting comes as Trump and his top advisers have signaled their willingness to work with acting President Delcy Rodríguez, who was Maduro’s vice president and along with others in the deposed leader's inner circle remain in charge of day-to-day governmental operations.

Rodríguez herself has adopted a less strident position toward Trump and his “America First” policies toward the Western Hemisphere, saying she plans to continue releasing prisoners detained under Maduro — a move reportedly made at the behest of the Trump administration. Venezuela released several Americans this week.

Trump, a Republican, said Wednesday that he had a “great conversation” with Rodríguez, their first since Maduro was ousted.

“We had a call, a long call. We discussed a lot of things,” Trump told reporters. “And I think we’re getting along very well with Venezuela.”

In endorsing Rodríguez, Trump has sidelined Machado, who has long been a face of resistance in Venezuela. She had sought to cultivate relationships with Trump and key advisers like Secretary of State Marco Rubio among the American right wing in a political gamble to ally herself with the U.S. government. She also intends to have a meeting in the Senate on Thursday afternoon.

Despite her alliance with Republicans, Trump was quick to snub her following Maduro’s capture. Just hours afterward, Trump said of Machado that “it would be very tough for her to be the leader. She doesn’t have the support within or the respect within the country. She’s a very nice woman, but she doesn’t have the respect.”

Machado has steered a careful course to avoid offending Trump, notably after winning last year’s Nobel Peace Prize, which Trump coveted. She has since thanked Trump and offered to share the prize with him, a move that has been rejected by the Nobel Institute.

Machado’s whereabouts have been largely unknown since she went into hiding early last year after being briefly detained in Caracas. She briefly reappeared in Oslo, Norway, in December after her daughter received the Nobel Peace Prize on her behalf.

The industrial engineer and daughter of a steel magnate began challenging the ruling party in 2004, when the nongovernmental organization she co-founded, Súmate, promoted a referendum to recall then-President Hugo Chávez. The initiative failed, and Machado and other Súmate executives were charged with conspiracy.

A year later, she drew the anger of Chávez and his allies again for traveling to Washington to meet President George W. Bush. A photo showing her shaking hands with Bush in the Oval Office lives in the collective memory. Chávez considered Bush an adversary.

Almost two decades later, she marshaled millions of Venezuelans to reject Chávez’s successor, Maduro, for another term in the 2024 election. But ruling party-loyal electoral authorities declared him the winner despite ample credible evidence to the contrary. Ensuing anti-government protests ended in a brutal crackdown by state security forces.

Janetsky reported from Mexico City. AP Diplomatic Writer Matthew Lee in Washington contributed to this report.

FILE - U.S. President George Bush, right, meets with Maria Corina Machado, executive director of Sumate, a non-governmental organization that defends Venezuelan citizens' political rights, in the Oval Office of the White House, Washington, May 31, 2005. (AP Photo/Charles Dharapak, File)

FILE - Opposition leader Maria Corina Machado gestures to supporters during a protest against President Nicolas Maduro the day before his inauguration for a third term, in Caracas, Venezuela, Thursday, Jan. 9, 2025. (AP Photo/Ariana Cubillos, file)