President Donald Trump announced Friday he has a deal with Denmark to bolster the U.S. military presence in Greenlandafter months of threatening to take the island by force from the NATO ally — an agreement that also keeps the Arctic territory in Denmark’s hands.
Trump in a social media post announcing the deal said the agreement “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 with the agreement his administration would “immediately” begin the process of developing a larger military presence on the mineral-rich Danish territory.
The office of Denmark’s prime minister, Mette Frederiksen, said the deal will be signed by all three governments next week during the United Nations General Assembly, but parliamentary action is still needed by the Danish and Greenland governments before it can be enforced.
In a statement she said “the agreement recognizes the sovereignty and territorial integrity” of Greenland and Denmark and upholds both people’s 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.”
Allies pushed back on Trump’s call for the US to acquire Greenland
With his return to the White House last year, Trump called on Denmark to sell the island to the United States, while insisting Greenland is crucial for U.S. security. He pointedly wouldn’t rule out taking the island by military force, even though Denmark is a NATO ally of the U.S.
Denmark and Greenland repeatedly said the island is not for sale and condemned reports of the U.S. gathering intelligence there. The U.S. push for Greenland was also fiercely opposed by Russia and much of Europe.
But Trump with the announcement Friday suggested an understanding may have been reached that could bring an end to what was viewed as an existential crisis by Denmark.
“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 in his post. “We will be very protective of it!”
Trump had claimed the U.S. needs Greenland to deter threats from Russia and China, and has repeatedly made false claims of Chinese and Russian military forces lurking off the island’s coastline.
The agreement bans any non-NATO base in Greenland, limits adversaries from being able to make investments in Greenland and guarantees that China and Russia cannot have a base in Greenland, according to a State Department official who was not authorized to comment publicly and spoke on the condition of anonymity.
Secretary of State Marco Rubio cheered the statement as a “historic deal” and “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.”
The island is crucial to North America’s defense
But the U.S. has long had a military presence in Greenland, holding several bases and installations through the Cold War before dialing back its presence.
The U.S. still operates the remote Pituffik Space Base in northwestern Greenland, which was built after the U.S. and Denmark signed the Defense of Greenland Treaty in 1951. It supports missile warning, missile defense and space surveillance operations for the U.S. and NATO.
Greenland sits off the northeastern coast of Canada, with more than two-thirds of its territory lying within the Arctic Circle. That has made it crucial to the defense of North America since World War II, when the U.S. occupied Greenland to ensure it didn’t fall into the hands of Nazi Germany and to protect vital North Atlantic shipping lanes.
Despite Trump’s repeated aggressive comments toward Denmark about Greenland, Danish officials had repeatedly made clear that they stood ready to work with the U.S. to expand the American military presence and strengthen U.S. commercial interests in Greenland.
Still, Trump’s repeated demands for Greenland and threats to take it by force 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.”