Trump signs US-Denmark-Greenland agreement to bolster Arctic security

US President Donald Trump has signed an agreement with Denmark and Greenland aimed at strengthening Arctic and North Atlantic security, easing tensions over his repeated calls for Greenland to become part of the United States.

The agreement was signed Tuesday on the sidelines of the UN General Assembly in New York, days after Trump announced a deal to bolster the US military presence on the vast, icy island while keeping it under Danish control.

“This is tremendous for Europe and for the United States and for everybody,” Trump said shortly before the agreement was signed. “And for Greenland, it’s going to be incredible.”

For months, Trump has expressed his desire for Greenland to become part of the United States and threatened to seize the semi-autonomous territory from Denmark, a NATO ally. On Tuesday, he did not respond to questions about whether a US acquisition of Greenland was off the table.

Officials from the US, Greenland and Denmark negotiated for months behind the scenes, seeking solutions to address some of Trump’s security concerns about the mineral-rich island.

The US has maintained a military presence in Greenland for decades. Since 1945, however, the US military footprint has fallen from thousands of troops across 17 bases and installations to roughly 200 soldiers at the remote Pituffik Space Base in northwest Greenland.

The base supports missile warning, missile defence and space surveillance operations for the US and NATO.

Addressing the UN General Assembly on Tuesday, Trump provided some details of the agreement.

“We will immediately begin the process of developing a large military presence in the appropriate locations,” he said, including “building two very major military bases”.

Denmark’s parliament approved a bill last year allowing US military bases on Danish soil, expanding a 2023 military agreement reached with the Biden administration that gave US troops broad access to Danish air bases.

Trump has previously insisted the US needed to “take Greenland” to prevent Russia or China from doing so. Though he said he would rather “make a deal” for the territory, he added: “One way or the other, we’re going to have Greenland.”

Trump’s push to acquire Greenland strained relations within NATO. Danish Prime Minister Mette Frederiksen warned that a US takeover would amount to the end of the Atlantic alliance.

The standoff unsettled many of Greenland’s roughly 56,000 residents and widened divisions between the US and Denmark and its European Union partners, which stepped up security exercises and financial support for the island.

Trade and potential access to Greenland’s natural resources have also factored into concerns about its future. About two-thirds of Greenland lies inside the Arctic Circle, where melting sea ice has opened additional shipping routes.

The agreement, released by the Danish government after the signing, allows Washington to “modernize and expand” its activities at Pituffik Space Base.

It also allows the US to establish “defence areas” at Narsarsuaq in southern Greenland and Mestersvig in the east. Washington “may establish additional defence areas in Greenland and strengthen its military operations or facilities”.

The US is to award contracts for goods and services related to setting up, maintaining or dismantling such bases “to Greenlandic sources to the maximum extent possible”.

The accord also provides for broad US military mobility across Greenland, including “undersea access”.

No non-NATO country will be allowed to establish “its own manned or unmanned military installations in Greenland” or maintain a “persistent” military presence unless the signatories agree otherwise.

The agreement “does not have an end date”. If Greenland becomes independent, it will agree to remain in NATO and assume Denmark’s rights and obligations under the deal.

Mikkel Runge Olesen, a senior researcher at the Danish Institute for International Studies, said Greenland and Denmark could emerge from the agreement with the possibility of “ending the crisis without compromising on sovereignty”, while the US secured a “somewhat more favourable” arrangement than under the existing defence treaty.

However, he said relations between the US, Denmark and Greenland “are likely to be haunted by this long after Trump leaves office”, with the crisis likely to have a “significant and lasting negative impact” on transatlantic relations.

“The lost trust will take decades to rebuild,” he said.

Frederiksen called the agreement a “deal that can last forever”, describing it as positive for the US, Greenland, Denmark and the wider NATO alliance.

“Mr President, you have been very clear: You don’t want adversaries to come too close,” she said. “I fully agree.”

Greenland Prime Minister Jens-Frederik Nielsen called it a “win-win-win agreement”.

“Your security is our security,” he said, “and our security is your security.”