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The prime ministers of Denmark and Greenland presented a united front in forcefully rejecting US pressure at a joint press conference ahead of a crunch meeting in Washington on Wednesday.

Greenland’s Prime Minister Jens-Frederik Nielsen said the Arctic island did not want to be “owned”, “governed” or “be part of the US”, while Danish leader Mette Frederiksen insisted: “Greenland is not for sale.”

Denmark and Greenland’s foreign ministers will meet US vice-president JD Vance and secretary of state Marco Rubio at the White House on Wednesday, in the first substantive meeting between the three sides since President Donald Trump floated buying the island in 2019.

Trump has repeatedly insisted that the US will “have” Greenland one way or the other, refusing to rule out military action, and the pressure has been stepped up since the US capture of Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro this month.

Both Copenhagen and Nuuk have repeatedly rejected Trump’s interest in the semi-autonomous territory of Denmark.

“We come together, we stay together and we leave together,” Frederiksen said of Denmark and Greenland.

The best way to protect Greenland against Russian and Chinese influence was through Nato, she said, directly comparing the need for solidarity in the Arctic to that on the alliance’s eastern flank in the three Baltic states.

“You cannot change borders by force” and “small countries should not fear big countries”, she added. “We are not looking for conflict, but the message is clear: Greenland is not for sale.”

There have been small signs of division between Greenland and Denmark in recent days, with Greenlandic foreign minister Vivian Motzfeldt floating the idea that her country could meet the US alone.

But Nielsen said they were united. “If we have to choose between the US and Denmark here and now, we choose Denmark. We choose Nato. We choose the kingdom of Denmark. We choose the EU,” he said.

Denmark has offered the US deeper co-operation on Arctic security, underscoring that Washington already has the opportunity to open more military bases on Greenland than the small one it currently runs. Greenland has also invited US investors to take part in its nascent mining and tourism industries.

But Trump has said that he requires “ownership” of Greenland, adding that it is “psychologically needed”.

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Some Danish MPs struck a gloomy tone ahead of Wednesday’s meeting.

“This may turn out to be a very unwise strategy on the government’s side. I cannot understand the wisdom of inviting oneself to a meeting with a country that threatens Denmark,” said Morten Messerschmidt, head of the nationalist Danish People’s Party.

Pelle Dragsted, MP for the Red-Green Alliance, said the sudden presence of Vance in addition to Rubio was “bad news”, as there had been a hope that a meeting between only diplomats would allow for more “rational talking”.

At the press conference, Frederiksen acknowledged that “the hardest part lies ahead of us”.