The White House and Denmark contradicted each other in public about what they had agreed to this week as President Trump continued to demand U.S. ownership of Greenland.

Denmark's foreign minister said the closed-door meeting was a "frank but also constructive" discussion. He said a high-level working group would be formed "to explore if we can find a common way forward.

Yesterday, after Greenland’s prime minister, Jens-Frederik Nielsen, vowed to cast his lot with Denmark over the United States, Trump said that he didn’t “know anything about” Nielsen but that such a choice would be a “big problem for him.”

Greenland’s prime minister said he was trying to end a "geopolitical crisis" by declaring Greenland wants to be part of Denmark, not the U.S.

U.S. officials are expected to meet with Danish and Greenlandic counterparts in Washington, D.C. on Wednesday.

The Danes say the deployment of aircraft, ships and soldiers is part of an ongoing effort to better protect the island and the Arctic.

Denmark’s foreign minister said on Wednesday that a “fundamental disagreement” with U.S. President Donald Trump over the future of Greenland remained unresolved after high-level talks in Washington, even as Denmark and NATO allies moved to increase their military presence in the Arctic territory amid rising tensions.

Trump has said acquiring Greenland is a national security priority, and that the U.S. must own the island to prevent Russia or China from taking it. The shortest route from Europe to North America runs via Greenland, making it important for the U.S. ballistic missile early-warning system.