The United States and Denmark have announced a security agreement over Greenland, resolving a diplomatic dispute that began when President Donald Trump repeatedly threatened to seize the semi-autonomous Danish territory by force.
Trump said the deal grants the US “permanent control over security, and all other needs” in Greenland, claiming it addresses “ALL of our many U.S. concerns.” “We will immediately begin the process of developing a large Military presence in the appropriate part of Greenland, of which there are many,” he wrote on Truth Social. The agreement will be signed by the three governments on the sidelines of the United Nations General Assembly in New York City next week, according to statements from Denmark’s Prime Minister Mette Frederiksen and Greenland’s government leader Jens-Frederik Nielsen.
No official text has been released. An unnamed US State Department official outlined several provisions, including one stating that the deal would not expire even if Greenland became independent, and another granting the US unilateral power to build military structures with no approval from Greenland or Denmark. The official said it includes “permanent access, basing and overflights rights,” bans non-Nato countries from building bases in Greenland, and specifically blocks Russia and China from deploying troops or investing in sensitive sectors, something the official said adversaries have been allowed to do under the current status quo without investment screening.
From annexation threats to security pact
Trump had tried for months to purchase or annex the mineral-rich territory. He argued the island is vulnerable to adversaries and cited its strategic location for defence purposes and its mineral wealth, even threatening military action at one point, which prompted an outcry from Danes and other Nato countries. During his first term in 2019, Trump confirmed he had been urging aides to find out how the US could buy Greenland, describing any sale as “essentially a large real estate deal,” the Guardian reported. The Danish government repeatedly stated that Greenland was not for sale.
Concerns over Trump’s annexation threats reached such a pitch that the Danish government set up a “night watch” in the foreign ministry to monitor the US president’s pronouncements while Copenhagen slept, according to the Guardian. At a Nato summit in Ankara earlier this year, Trump renewed his bid and threatened to pull all American armed forces out of Europe after the continent pushed back.
Greenlanders strongly oppose joining the US. According to the Guardian, polling has found this opposition to be widespread across the island, which the Guardian reported has roughly 56,000 inhabitants. The European Union earlier this year united to rebuke Trump over his push to acquire it. Vice-President JD Vance and his wife Usha received a frosty reception when they visited US troops at Pituffik space base last year amid the White House’s aggressive campaign to take the island, the Guardian reported.
The US military is already present. More than 100 military personnel are permanently stationed at the Pituffik base on the north-western tip of the territory, a presence dating to the cold war under a 1951 agreement allowing the US to send as many troops as it wants. Without the official text, it is unclear how the deal differs from that earlier agreement.
Frederiksen called it “a great agreement” for all three parties. She added that the deal still needs approval from legislators and will have to go through necessary parliamentary procedures to enter into force. Nielsen said it was “gratifying” that the agreement ensures and strengthens the security of Greenland, Denmark, and the US. “The agreement recognises Greenland’s interests and our place in international co-operation. It is for the benefit of us all,” he said.
US Secretary of State Marco Rubio called it a “historic deal” and a “huge win for the United States and the American people,” saying it “permanently and completely addresses our national security concerns in Greenland.” According to the BBC, Trump says Greenland is essential for his plan to build a Golden Dome defence system, and the BBC reported that the island has vast, largely untapped reserves of rare earth minerals, many of which are crucial for technologies including mobile phones and electric vehicles. The announcement comes weeks before November’s midterms, giving the president a foreign policy accomplishment to present to voters as the deeply unpopular war with Iran becomes an increasing political liability for Republicans vying to hold their narrow majorities in Congress, the Guardian reported.
A Trump administration insider signaled the US side intends to present the deal as an American triumph. According to the Guardian, Katie Miller, a former White House aide whose husband is Trump’s closest adviser, posted a map of Greenland covered in the American flag with the caption: “ITS [sic] HAPPENING.”