President Donald Trump said Friday the U.S. entered into an agreement with Denmark and Greenland giving “the United States permanent control over security, and all other needs, in Greenland.”
Under this deal, he said on Truth Social, no U.S. adversaries can have a base or military presence in Greenland, nor can they make “sensitive investments” there “without our express written approval.”
“We will immediately begin the process of developing a large Military presence in the appropriate part of Greenland, of which there are many,” Trump said. “We will work with the people of Greenland in its development and construction.”
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The U.S. has had a military presence in Greenland for decades, and has entered into other defense-related agreements with Denmark as well.
A 1951 agreement between the U.S. and Denmark let the former put troops in Greenland. Last June, the Pentagon said Greenland would be within U.S. Northern Command’s area of responsibility, instead of European Command’s.
Peter Viggo Jakobsen, a lecturer at the Royal Danish Defence College and expert on U.S.-Danish relations, previously told Straight Arrow that the U.S. “already has military control of Greenland.” The U.S. currently operates Pituffik Space Base, formerly known as Thule Air Base, in the territory.
Officials from Denmark and Greenland said the three governments plan to sign the agreement during the United Nations’ High Level Week.
The agreement will still have to go through parliamentary procedures after it is signed.
“It is gratifying that we are about to enter into an agreement that ensures and strengthens the security of Greenland, the Kingdom of Denmark, the United States and the Western alliance,” Greenland Prime Minister Jens-Frederik Nielsen said in a statement. “The agreement recognizes Greenland’s interests and our place in international cooperation. It is to the benefit of us all.”
Danish Prime Minister Mette Frederiksen said she is “pleased that there is a prospect of a good agreement for Greenland, the Kingdom of Denmark and the United States.”
“An agreement that strengthens our common security in the Arctic and the North Atlantic area and is therefore also good for NATO and Europe,” she said. “And an agreement that at the same time recognizes the sovereignty and territorial integrity of the Kingdom and the right of the Greenlandic people to self-determination.”
Trump has long talked about his desire for the U.S. to have total control of Greenland, even before he started his second term — an idea rejected by Danish and Greenland officials.
Frederiksen said in January that it “makes absolutely no sense” for the U.S. to annex Greenland, and that Washington has no right to. Those in Greenland have said “very clearly that they are not for sale,” she added.
Sources who spoke anonymously to The Washington Post said Friday’s deal was intended to allow Trump to declare victory, while still giving Denmark and Greenland the satisfaction that they’ll maintain sovereignty over the territory.
It’s a plan sources said happened after months of discussions by senior and Danish officials working “under the radar” so neither sides’ leaders would derail talks.
The Post reported that concerns were renewed at a NATO summit in Ankara, Turkey, after Trump told reporters Greenland “should be controlled by the United States, not by Denmark.”
Following this, Frederiksen told Trump that he’s “not going to get Greenland,” the Washington Post reported, citing three officials knowledgeable about the exchange.
