US President Donald Trump said on Wednesday that anything less than US control of Greenland is “unacceptable”, hours before Vice-President J.D. Vance was to host Danish and Greenlandic officials for talks.

In a post on his social media site, Trump reiterated his argument that the US “needs Greenland for the purpose of National Security”. He added that “NATO should be leading the way for us to get it” and that otherwise Russia or China would.

“NATO becomes far more formidable and effective with Greenland in the hands of the UNITED STATES,” Trump wrote. “Anything less than that is unacceptable.”

Greenland is at the centre of a geopolitical storm as Trump is insisting he wants to own the island – and the residents of its capital, Nuuk, say it is not for sale. The White House has not ruled out taking the Arctic island by force.

Vance is to meet Denmark’s foreign minister Lars Løkke Rasmussen and his Greenlandic counterpart Vivian Motzfeldt in Washington on Wednesday to discuss the island, which is a semi-autonomous territory of the United States’ Nato ally Denmark.

Ahead of the meeting, France’s foreign minister denounced what he described as US “blackmail” over Greenland in the latest sign of irritation among America’s allies.