The foreign ministers of Denmark and Greenland are scheduled to meet with U.S. Vice President J.D. Vance and Secretary of State Marco Rubio at the White House on Wednesday, Denmark’s Foreign Ministry announced on Tuesday. The meeting comes amid renewed efforts by former President Donald Trump to push for U.S. control of the Arctic island.

Danish Foreign Minister Lars Løkke Rasmussen and his Greenlandic counterpart, Vivian Motzfeldt, requested the meeting with Rubio after Trump intensified pressure in recent days to acquire Greenland, an autonomous territory within the Kingdom of Denmark.

“Vice President J.D. Vance also expressed a desire to participate in the meeting and will host it. Therefore, the meeting will take place at the White House,” Rasmussen told reporters in Copenhagen.

“The reason we requested the meeting was to move this discussion into a conference room, where we can look each other in the eye and talk through these issues,” he added.

Trump first floated the idea of acquiring Greenland in 2019 during his first term as president, a proposal that faced strong opposition in Washington, including from members of his own party.

Although Denmark has ruled Greenland for centuries, the island has been steadily moving toward greater autonomy since 1979. Independence remains a long-term goal shared by all political parties represented in Greenland’s parliament.

Republican Congressman Proposes Making Greenland the 51st U.S. State

A Republican congressman from Florida has introduced a bill proposing that Greenland become the 51st state of the United States, as the Trump administration renews rhetoric about taking control of the vast autonomous territory governed by Denmark, a NATO ally.

The bill, titled “An Act Respecting the Annexation and Admission of Greenland into the Union,” was introduced on Monday by Representative Randy Fine, according to his office.

“Greenland is not a remote outpost we can afford to ignore. It is a vital national security asset,” Fine said in a statement.

“Whoever controls Greenland controls the main Arctic navigation routes and the security architecture that protects the United States. America cannot leave its future in the hands of regimes that reject our values and seek to undermine our security,” he argued.

According to the two-page bill, former President Trump would be authorized to “take all necessary steps to annex Greenland or acquire it as a territory of the United States.”