President Donald Trump announced a deal with Denmark that will keep Greenland under Danish sovereignty while significantly expanding the U.S. military presence on the strategically vital Arctic island. The agreement, revealed Friday in a social media post, marks a sharp reversal from months of threats to seize the territory by force from a NATO ally.
Trump said the deal «gives the United States permanent control over security, and all other needs, in Greenland, completely addressing ALL of our many U.S. concerns.» He added that his administration would «immediately» begin developing a larger military footprint on the mineral-rich island.
The office of Danish Prime Minister Mette Frederiksen confirmed the agreement will be signed by all three governments next week during the United Nations General Assembly. However, parliamentary action is still required by both the Danish and Greenlandic governments before it can be enforced.
Frederiksen said in a statement that the agreement «recognizes the sovereignty and territorial integrity» of Greenland and Denmark and upholds both peoples' right «to self-determination.» Greenland Prime Minister Jens-Frederik Nielsen said the emerging deal benefits all three governments and «recognizes Greenland's interests and our place in the international cooperation.»
The agreement bans any non-NATO base in Greenland, limits adversary investments on the island, and guarantees that China and Russia cannot establish a military presence there, according to a State Department official who spoke on condition of anonymity. Secretary of State Marco Rubio called it a «historic deal» and a «huge win» for the United States. «Greenland will forever be part of the strategic defense area of North America and exclude any adversary from it and the surrounding area,» Rubio said. «This deal permanently and completely addresses our national security concerns in Greenland.»
Since returning to the White House last year, Trump had repeatedly called on Denmark to sell Greenland to the United States, insisting the island is crucial for American security. He pointedly refused to rule out taking it by military force, even though Denmark is a NATO ally. Denmark and Greenland consistently said the island was not for sale and condemned reports of U.S. intelligence gathering there. The push was fiercely opposed by Russia and much of Europe.
Despite Trump's aggressive rhetoric, Danish officials had repeatedly made clear they stood ready to work with Washington to expand the American military presence and strengthen U.S. commercial interests in Greenland. The island sits off the northeastern coast of Canada, with more than two-thirds of its territory lying within the Arctic Circle, making it crucial to North American defense since World War II.
The U.S. has long maintained a military presence in Greenland, operating several bases and installations through the Cold War before dialing back. It still operates the remote Pituffik Space Base in northwestern Greenland, built after the U.S. and Denmark signed the Defense of Greenland Treaty in 1951. The base supports missile warning, missile defense, and space surveillance operations for the U.S. and NATO.
Trump had claimed the U.S. needs Greenland to deter threats from Russia and China, and repeatedly made false claims of Chinese and Russian military forces lurking off the island's coastline. In his announcement Friday, he suggested an understanding had been reached that could end what Denmark viewed as an existential crisis. «We look forward to working with the wonderful people of Denmark and Greenland toward a magnificent future with respect to this large, and highly strategic, parcel of land,» Trump said. «We will be very protective of it!»
Still, Trump's repeated demands and threats rattled the NATO alliance and discomfited European allies, said Imran Bayoumi, an associate director at the Atlantic Council's Scowcroft Center for Strategy and Security. «I think Americans really underestimate how damaging it was for the image of the United States in Europe,» he said. «I think Greenlanders, Danes, Europeans saw this as a real attack on their sovereignty, and it's going to take a lot of work to repair.»