COPENHAGEN, Denmark (AP) — Denmark’s foreign minister said Tuesday that U.S. Vice President JD Vance will host a meeting with him and his Greenlandic counterpart in Washington this week as tensions spiral over the Trump administration’s desire for control of Greenland.

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The vast Arctic island is a semiautonomous territory of Denmark, a NATO ally of the U.S. Danish Foreign Minister Lars Løkke Rasmussen and his counterpart from Greenland, Vivian Motzfeldt, had been widely expected to meet on Wednesday with U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio, though the meeting hadn’t officially been confirmed.

Løkke Rasmussen told reporters after a meeting of the Danish parliament’s foreign policy committee on Tuesday that Vance had expressed a wish to take part and that he will host the meeting at the White House, with Rubio in attendance. Neither the White House nor Vance’s office responded immediately to emails and text messages seeking comment.

Løkke Rasmussen, a former Danish prime minister, has been foreign minister since 2022 in the government of Prime Minister Mette Frederiksen.

Tensions have grown between Washington, Denmark and Greenland this month as President Donald Trump and his administration push the issue and the White House considers a range of options, including military force, to acquire the vast Arctic island. Trump reiterated his argument that the U.S. needs to “take Greenland,” otherwise Russia or China would, in comments aboard Air Force One on Sunday.

He said he’d rather “make a deal” for the territory, “but one way or the other, we’re going to have Greenland.”

A bipartisan U.S. congressional delegation is headed to Copenhagen for meetings on Friday and Saturday in an attempt to show unity between the United States and Denmark.

Before that, Frederiksen plans to meet Greenlandic Prime Minister Jens-Frederik Nielsen, along with the leader of the Faroe Islands, Denmark’s other semi-autonomous territory, in Copenhagen as part of a periodic gathering of parliamentarians from the Danish realm.

By FATIMA HUSSEIN and MATTHEW LEE, Associated Press

WASHINGTON (AP) — President Donald Trump’s administration has made good on its pledge to label three Middle Eastern branches of the Muslim Brotherhood as terrorist organizations, imposing sanctions on them and their members in a decision that could have implications for U.S. relationships with allies Qatar and Turkey.

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The Treasury and State departments announced the actions Tuesday against the Lebanese, Jordanian and Egyptian chapters of the Muslim Brotherhood, which they said pose a risk to the United States and American interests.

The State Department designated the Lebanese branch a foreign terrorist organization, the most severe of the labels, which makes it a criminal offense to provide material support to the group. The Jordanian and Egyptian branches were listed by Treasury as specially designated global terrorists for providing support to Hamas.

“These designations reflect the opening actions of an ongoing, sustained effort to thwart Muslim Brotherhood chapters’ violence and destabilization wherever it occurs,” Secretary of State Marco Rubio said in a statement. “The United States will use all available tools to deprive these Muslim Brotherhood chapters of the resources to engage in or support terrorism.”

Rubio and Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent were mandated last year under an executive order signed by Trump to determine the most appropriate way to impose sanctions on the groups, which U.S. officials say engage in or support violence and destabilization campaigns that harm the United States and other regions.

Muslim Brotherhood leaders have said they renounce violence.

Trump’s executive order had singled out the chapters in Lebanon, Jordan and Egypt, noting that a wing of the Lebanese chapter had launched rockets on Israel after Hamas’ Oct. 7, 2023, attack in Israel that set off the war in Gaza. Leaders of the group in Jordan have provided support to Hamas, the order said.

The Muslim Brotherhood was founded in Egypt in 1928 but was banned in that country in 2013. Jordan announced a sweeping ban on the Muslim Brotherhood in April.

Nathan Brown, a professor of political science and international affairs at George Washington University, said some allies of the U.S., including the United Arab Emirates and Egypt, would likely be pleased with the designation.

“For other governments where the brotherhood is tolerated, it would be a thorn in bilateral relations,” including in Qatar and Turkey, he said.

Brown also said a designation on the chapters may have effects on visa and asylum claims for people entering not just the U.S. but also Western European countries and Canada.

“I think this would give immigration officials a stronger basis for suspicion, and it might make courts less likely to question any kind of official action against Brotherhood members who are seeking to stay in this country, seeking political asylum,” he said.

Trump, a Republican, weighed whether to designate the Muslim Brotherhood a terrorist organization in 2019 during his first term in office. Some prominent Trump supporters, including right-wing influencer Laura Loomer, have pushed his administration to take aggressive action against the group.

Two Republican-led state governments — Florida and Texas — designated the group as a terrorist organization this year.

By CHRISTOPHER RUGABER, Associated Press Economics Writer

WASHINGTON (AP) — Inflation declined a bit last month as prices for gas and used cars fell, a sign that cost pressures are slowly easing.

FILE – A cashier rings up groceries in Dallas, Aug. 28, 2025. (AP Photo/LM Otero, File)

Consumer prices rose 0.3% in December from the prior month, the Labor Department said Tuesday, the same as in November. Excluding the volatile food and energy categories, core prices rose 0.2%, also matching November’s figure.

Even as inflation has eased, the large price increases for necessities such as groceries, rent, and health care have left many American households feeling squeezed, turning “affordability” issues into high-profile political concerns.

THIS IS A BREAKING NEWS UPDATE. AP’s earlier story follows below.

WASHINGTON (AP) — Inflation likely remained elevated last month as the cost of electricity, groceries, and clothing may have jumped and continued to pressure consumers’ wallets.

The Labor Department is expected to report that consumer prices rose 2.6% in December compared with a year earlier, according to economists’ estimates compiled by data provider FactSet. The yearly rate would be down from 2.7% in November. Monthly prices, however, are expected to rise 0.3% in December, faster than is consistent with the Federal Reserve’s 2% inflation goal.

The figures are harder to predict this month, however, because the six-week government shutdown last fall suspended the collection of price data used to compile the inflation rate. Some economists expect the December figures will show a bigger jump in inflation as the data collection process gets back to normal.

Core prices, which exclude the volatile food and energy categories, are also expected to rise 0.3% in December from the previous month, and 2.7% from a year earlier. The yearly core figure would be an increase from 2.6% in November.

In November, annual inflation fell from 3% in September to 2.7%, in part because of quirks in November’s data. (The government never calculated a yearly figure for October). Most prices were collected in the second half of November, after the government reopened, when holiday discounts kicked in, which may have biased November inflation lower.

And since rental prices weren’t fully collected in October, the agency that prepares the inflation reports used placeholder estimates that may have biased prices lower, economists said.

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Inflation has come down significantly from the four-decade peak of 9.1% that it reached in June 2022, but it has been stubbornly close to 3% since late 2023. The cost of necessities such as groceries is about 25% higher than it was before the pandemic, and other necessities such as rent and clothing have also gotten more expensive, fueling dissatisfaction with the economy that both President Donald Trump and former President Joe Biden have sought to address, though with limited success.

The Federal Reserve has struggled to balance its goal of fighting inflation by keeping borrowing costs high, while also supporting hiring by cutting interest rates when unemployment worsens. As long as inflation remains above its target of 2%, the Fed will likely be reluctant to cut rates much more.

The Fed reduced its key rate by a quarter-point in December, but Chair Jerome Powell, at a press conference explaining its decision, said the Fed would probably hold off on further cuts to see how the economy evolves.

The 19 members of the Fed’s interest-rate setting committee have been sharply divided for months over whether to cut its rate further, or keep it at its curent level of about 3.6% to combat inflation.

Trump, meanwhile, has harshly criticized the Fed for not cutting its key short-term rate more sharply, a move he has said would reduce mortgage rates and the government’s borrowing costs for its huge debt pile. Yet the Fed doesn’t directly control mortgage rates, which are set by financial markets.

In a move that cast a shadow over the ability of the Fed to fight inflation in the future, the Department of Justice served the central bank last Friday with subpoenas related to Powell’s congressional testimony in June about a $2.5 billion renovation of two Fed office buildings. Trump administration officials have suggested that Powell either lied about changes to the building or altered plans in ways that are inconsistent with those approved by planning commissions.

In a blunt response, Powell said Sunday those claims were “pretexts” for an effort by the White House to assert more control over the Fed.

“The threat of criminal charges is a consequence of the Federal Reserve setting interest rates based on our best assessment of what will serve the public, rather than following the preferences of the President,” Powell said. “This is about whether the Fed will be able to continue to set interest rates based on evidence and economic conditions—or whether instead monetary policy will be directed by political pressure or intimidation.”

By MATT O’BRIEN and MARC LEVY, Associated Press

It won’t be easy for Big Tech companies to win the hearts and minds of Americans who are angered about massive artificial intelligence data centers sprouting up in their neighborhoods, straining electricity grids and drawing on local reservoirs.

Microsoft is trying anyway.

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The software giant’s president, Brad Smith, is meeting with federal lawmakers Tuesday to push forward an approach that calls for the industry, not taxpayers, to pay the full costs of the vast network of computing warehouses needed to power AI chatbots like ChatGPT, Google’s Gemini and Microsoft’s own Copilot. President Donald Trump gave Microsoft’s effort a nod in a Truth Social post Monday evening, where he stated that he does not want Americans to “pick up the tab” for these data centers and pay higher utility costs.

“Local communities naturally want to see new jobs but not at the expense of higher electricity prices or the diversion of their water,” Smith said in an interview with The Associated Press.

Smith’s campaign comes as data center developers are increasingly running into hostility in towns where they want to build and meeting defeat at municipal boards that must approve zoning applications or construction permits.

Rising electric prices are one problem. Heavy water usage by data centers to cool electronic equipment has also elicited concerns from local residents that they’ll see their wells run dry or their water utility bills spike.

The defeats have spread alarm among data center allies and spurred efforts to ramp up the amount of money that operators are willing to offer communities in exchange for approval.

“People are asking not just pointed questions but completely reasonable questions and it’s our job, I think, to acknowledge them and address them head on and show that we can do this and pursue this expansion in a way that fully meets their needs,” said Smith, who is also Microsoft’s vice chair and has spent decades leading its legal and political work.

In the mid-Atlantic region grid that encompasses all or parts of 13 states, ratepayers have been paying higher prices on their bills since at least June because of data centers, according to utilities and analysts.

Electricity bills are expected to keep rising as payments to power plant owners grow to entice the construction of new power sources to meet demand from new and yet-to-be-built data centers in hotspots like Virginia, Ohio and Pennsylvania.

Another source of friction is that big data center developers can strike bulk power deals with local electric utilities that are profitable for utilities, but also kept confidential. That means it may never be clear whether data center operators really are paying for their electricity — or foisting the cost onto the rest of the utility’s ratepayers, consumer advocates say.

Data center projects have also met objections in communities where people are worried about losing open space, farmland, forest or rural character, or are concerned about the damage to quality of life, property values, environment or their health.

In Hobart, Indiana, last week, the City Council approved a tax-abatement package for a multibillion-dollar Amazon data center planned there. In turn, the deal promises Amazon will make two payments of $5 million each for issuing a pair of building permits, plus another series of payments totaling $175 million over three years at various project milestones.

Opponents say the money unduly influences the decision-making of city officials.

In Wisconsin, where Smith grew up and the home of what Microsoft has called “the world’s most powerful AI datacenter,” the company has encountered hurdles in expanding its construction projects near the shores of Lake Michigan. The company has promised the centers will employ hundreds of people when they’re finished. Democratic Gov. Tony Evers has touted the projects he says will put Wisconsin “on the very cutting edge of AI power.”

But environmentalists and consumer groups have warned that the centers will consume unprecedented amounts of electricity, driving up rates across the Midwestern power grid, and could use hundreds of thousands of gallons of Lake Michigan water daily. Company officials have pledged that the centers’ impact will be minimal and will contribute carbon-free energy to the power grid.

Environmental group Clean Wisconsin has called for government officials to pause data center approvals until the state develops a comprehensive plan to regulate them. Francesca Hong, one of several Democratic candidates for governor — Evers is not seeking re-election in November — has developed a proposal she calls CONTROL ALT DELETE that calls for a moratorium on data center construction until “we know how to protect ourselves from their environmental and energy costs.”

In the interview with AP, Smith talked about data center projects in Wisconsin and elsewhere. This interview has been edited for clarity and length.

What’s the heaviest lift for Microsoft in terms of what you are contributing to ameliorate data center opposition?

Smith: We don’t use nearly as much water as we do electricity. Electricity is a heavier lift. It’s a larger investment. And it comes after several decades where electricity production in the United States was basically flat. If you look at the approach that we’re taking in terms of partnering with utilities, paying our own way, I think we can address this problem to the satisfaction of local communities. At the end of the day, it requires the approval of the utilities commissions.

Who are you talking about when you say you disagree with those who say AI is so beneficial that the public should help pay for the electricity the technology needs?

Smith: I shouldn’t name names. First of all, we wholeheartedly agree with the positive impact that AI is going to create for the future. But we don’t think that the public should be devoting tax dollars to pay for the improvements in the electricity grid that are needed to serve data centers. Private companies can incorporate that into their financial planning, especially when you look at things like improvements on the transmission side or improvements in substations.

Clean energy is not a priority for the current presidential administration. Are you still pushing for the electricity to power your data centers to be clean?

Smith: We set a goal for ourselves in 2020 of being what we call carbon-negative by 2030. That requires that we reduce the amount of carbon emissions that we create, and that we then remove from the environment each year, beginning in 2030, more carbon than we emit. We have not changed course on that. There are times when the power that is coming to our data centers is generated by something like natural gas. We can work with a utility to ensure that it’s cleaner natural gas, but beyond that, we also invest in bringing to the regional grid new sources of carbon-free energy as well, whether it’s nuclear, solar, hydro or others.

To what extent are you on track for the 2020 commitments?

Smith: On the carbon commitment, we have a clear path to reach our goal in 2030. As we often say, progress is lumpy, not linear. A lot of what we’re doing in the middle of the decade is making the investments that will benefit us at the end of the decade. It’s not like walking upstairs, where every step is the same length. But overall, I continue to be confident in our ability to meet our goals at the end of the decade.

What’s your position on groups calling for Wisconsin to pause AI data center approvals until there’s a plan to ensure these projects won’t harm communities?

Smith: We are supportive of Wisconsin developing a comprehensive electricity plan. I don’t think our project should be paused to wait for that. We’re partnering to build out and improve the electricity grid in southeastern Wisconsin. A rate tariff that we have proposed to the public utility commission would impose on Microsoft additional costs that we would help pay for in the state. And because of other investments we’re making, including a 150-megawatt solar farm.

AP writer Todd Richmond in Madison, Wisconsin, contributed to this report.