Denmark has hired influential K-Street lobbyists with Republican party links as it seeks warmer relations with US president Donald Trump.
Denmark's Washington ambassador Jesper Møller Sørensen has agreed a contract with Mercury Public Affairs worth $263,000, according to filings under the US state department's foreign agents' registration act.
David Vitter, a former Republican congressman and senator for Louisiana, who stood down in 2017 after being losing a gubernatorial election in Louisiana, will handle the contract for Mercury.
The filing states that the contract, which came into force on 25 April, will involve "providing strategic consulting, public affairs, marketing and communications".
Denmark has found itself in the Trump administration's crosshairs over the status of Greenland, an autonomous Danish territory rich in mineral resources, which Trump wants to purchase.
Despite Danish prime minister Mette Fredriksen stating that Greenland is not for sale, Trump has threatened Denmark with trade tariffs if they refuse to sell, and has refused to rule out military intervention.
However, obtaining Republican-linked lobbyists to argue its cause has not been straightforward.
In March, Denmark was turned down by Ballard Partners, led by Brian Ballard, a major Trump fundraiser in Florida.
The European Commission, as well as a handful of EU member states, have also been in talks with Washington lobby shops in a bid to get closer access to Trump's inner circle.
In late March, Trump's vice president JD Vance appeared to tone down US rhetoric on Greenland's future, but warned that Denmark had "not done a good job for the people of Greenland."
"This is why Trump's policy is what it is [that Greenland should become part of the US]," Vance said, speaking to US soldiers at the Pituffik Space Base.
But he also said: "We respect the self-determination of the people of Greenland".
Trump's bid for Greenland appears to have driven an increase in anti-US sentiment on the Arctic Island.
March's general elections in Greenland were dominated by fears of losing autonomy to the US.
The elections on 11 March were won by the centre-right Democrats party, whose leader, Jens Frederik Nielsen, said that the results should be a clear message to the United States and Trump that "We don't want to be Americans. No, we don't want to be Danes. We want to be Greenlanders. And we want our own independence in the future."
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Benjamin Fox is a seasoned reporter and editor, previously working for fellow Brussels publication Euractiv. His reporting has also been published in the Guardian, the East African, Euractiv, Private Eye and Africa Confidential, among others. He heads up the AU-EU section at EUobserver, based in Nairobi, Kenya.
Benjamin Fox is a seasoned reporter and editor, previously working for fellow Brussels publication Euractiv. His reporting has also been published in the Guardian, the East African, Euractiv, Private Eye and Africa Confidential, among others. He heads up the AU-EU section at EUobserver, based in Nairobi, Kenya.