Veteran diplomat tells CBS News Denmark "ready to cooperate" on Greenland, and he expects U.S. to abandon "anachronistic approach of colonialism" post-Trump.

The top Washington-based diplomats for Greenland and Denmark met with White House officials at the National Security Council on Thursday as Greenland continues to publicly and privately insist it is not for sale.

Denmark and Greenland’s envoys to Washington have begun a vigorous effort to urge U.S. lawmakers as well as key Trump administration officials to step back from President Donald Trump’s call for a “takeover” of the strategic Arctic island.

In this framing, Trump’s actions are part of the emergence of a multipolar world, in which the great powers are the US, China, India and Russia. In this world, it makes sense for Russia to invade Ukraine to counter the US, for the US to seize assets in Venezuela and Greenland to counter China, and for China to invade Taiwan to counter the US.

The Trump administration is actively exploring ways to acquire Greenland, either through purchase or by force.

Denmark unveiled its roster for the Olympic Winter Games Milano Cortina 2026 on Wednesday, headlined by Ottawa Senators forward Lars Eller and Carolina Hurricanes forward Nikolaj Ehlers. This is just Denmark's second time participating in the Olympics in men's hockey. It finished seventh at the 2022 Beijing Olympics.

The country's five political parties issued a joint statement rejecting Trump's attempts to acquire the island.

US secretary of state Marco Rubio will meet his Danish and Greenlandic counterparts Lars Løkke Rasmussen and Vivian Motzfeldt next week for the first substantive three-way meeting since President Donald Trump first expressed his desire to buy the vast Arctic island.