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Donald Trump announced on Friday that the US had struck an Arctic security pact with the leaders of Denmark and Greenland, after threatening for much of his second term to annex the semi-autonomous Danish territory by force.
The full scope of the deal Trump described as “very important, historic, and special” was not immediately clear. But soon after his announcement in a post on Truth Social, the leaders of Denmark and Greenland issued statements indicating the deal would be signed by the three governments on the sidelines of the United Nations general assembly in New York City next week.
In his social media post, Trump cast the deal as a personal triumph, claiming that 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”.
“We will immediately begin the process of developing a large Military presence in the appropriate part of Greenland,” Trump added. The US already has a presence on the island, and the right to expand bases, through Nato.
The announcement comes just weeks before November’s midterms, giving the president a foreign policy accomplishment he can tout to voters as the deeply unpopular war with Iran becomes an increasing political liability for Republicans vying to hang on to their narrow majorities in the House and Senate.
The US has long had a military presence in Greenland – a self-governing territory of the Kingdom of Denmark, a fellow Nato member – and has had a military base at Pituffik since the cold war.
In his post, Trump said that the agreement means “no US adversary can EVER have a base in Greenland, have a military presence in Greenland, or make sensitive investments in Greenland, without our express written approval”.
Statements from Denmark’s prime minister, Mette Frederiksen, and the leader of Greenland’s government, Jens-Frederik Nielsen, posted online late on Friday, emphasized that the agreement would fall far short of Trump’s previously stated desire for “the acquisition of Greenland by the United States”.
Frederiksen said that what she called “a great agreement” for all three parties “recognizes the sovereignty and territorial integrity of the Kingdom and the Greenlandic people’s right to self-determination”.
Nielsen said it was “joyous” that the agreement “ensures and strengthens the security of Greenland, the Kingdom of Denmark, the United States and the Western Alliance”, suggesting that the deal might possibly just reiterate the existing US rights through Nato to use the island as a security base.
Once agreed to, the pact would need to go through parliamentary procedures to be enacted, the Danish and Greenlandic statements said.
Earlier in his term, Trump argued that the US needed control of Greenland for “economic security”, and has described ownership and control of the territory as an “absolute necessity”. The island had long been on the president’s radar as a target for purchase, and during his first term, in 2019, Trump confirmed reports he had been urging aides to find out how the US could buy Greenland, describing any sale as “essentially a large real estate deal”.
Trump’s claims deepened divisions among the western alliance, with the Danish government repeatedly stating that Greenland was “not for sale”. When concerns over Trump’s annexation threats reached a fever pitch last year, the Guardian reported that the Danish government set up a “night watch” in the foreign ministry to monitor the US president’s pronouncements while Copenhagen sleeps.
At a Nato summit in Ankara earlier this year, Trump renewed his bid for the US to acquire Greenland. He threatened to pull all American armed forces out of Europe after the continent repeatedly pushed back.
Strategically positioned between the US and Russia, Greenland is viewed as increasingly important for defense and is emerging as a geopolitical battleground as Arctic ice melts.
The US vice-president, JD Vance, and his wife Usha, received a frosty reception when they visited US troops stationed at Pituffik space base last year, amid the White House’s aggressive campaign to take the mineral-rich island with roughly 56,000 inhabitants.
Polling has found Greenlanders strongly oppose any effort to make Greenland a part of the US.
Even so, a Trump administration insider dropped a hint online that the US side intends to present whatever the deal actually is as an American triumph. 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”.
Miranda Bryant contributed reporting
