Trump signs Greenland security agreement, defusing allied tensions

BELFAST — US President Donald Trump sat next to the leaders of Denmark and its territory Greenland today to sign a new Arctic security agreement based on strengthening “common deterrence,” defusing at least for the time being a tense standoff amid Washington’s threat to annex the semi-autonomous island.

The joint pact was signed by Trump, Prime Minister of Greenland Jens-Frederik Nielsen and Danish Prime Minister Mette Frederiksen during a ceremony in New York, immediately after Trump addressed the United Nations General Assembly.

“Today we are signing an even bigger and better agreement” than the 1951 defense treaty between the Kingdom of Denmark and the US, “a [new] deal that can last forever,” Frederiksen told reporters. “This deal is good for the United States, it’s good for Greenland, for Denmark, for the NATO alliance, and therefore also good for Europe.”

She added that the pact strengthens “our common deterrence” and prevents adversaries from gaining “any control or significant influence” over Greenland.

Under the deal, the US is to receive unfettered military access to Greenland and its territorial waters and can fly over, or land on, “any territory” on the island. It also allows for the US to establish a “defense area” in two Greenland locations “with modalities and technical details to be mutually agreed by the Parties.” Or, as Trump put it in a separate address at the UN General Assembly today, “We’ll be building two very major military bases.”

The agreement also, however, “reaffirm[ed] the sovereignty and territorial integrity of the Kingdom of Denmark, and recogniz[ed] that the People of Greenland constitute a people pursuant to international law with the right to self-determination.”

Just months ago Trump threatened that sovereignty, saying the US was considering taking control of Greenland through military means. He justified the controversial stance in January by arguing that the US needs it, to stop Russia or China from occupying it.

He did not answer when asked by a reporter today if the new agreement takes US ownership of Greenland off the table. But he did say the deal was “tremendous for Europe and for the United States … and for Greenland it’s going to be incredible.”

The signing of the agreement closes out weeks of negotiations and, publicly at least, reduces political tension between the three signatories. Rasmus Søndergaard, senior researcher for foreign policy and diplomacy at the Danish Institute for International Studies, told Breaking Defense ahead of the signing ceremony that it looked like “worst outcomes have been averted.”

At the height of the territorial dispute, Frederiksen predicted that a transatlantic security crisis could arrive. “If the United States chooses to attack another NATO country militarily, then everything stops — including NATO and thus the security that has been established since the end of the Second World War.”

She sounded a very different tone today. “This agreement also recognizes the United States defining historical and ongoing contributions to the security and defense of Greenland and the rest of the North Atlantic Treaty area, including, by the way, the sacrifices and billions of dollars spent, and the role that United States military plays in defense, when it comes to Greenland now and also in the future,” she said.

NATO Secretary General Mark Rutte welcomed the agreement with a post on X, saying that it “enhances our collective security.”

Based on recent statements in the lead up to today’s agreement, Søndergaard said that Trump is possibly “overselling a little bit, the degree to which the US gets control” of the Arctic territory, or even continuing to negotiate in public, through the statements.

From “what I can tell, he has not achieved” control of Greenland from this agreement, said Søndergaard. “Quite the contrary. However, he’s trying … to pitch to a domestic audience, in particular, this agreement on increased military presence as some victory that was only possible according” to his approach.

As for the new military bases, the agreement stipulates one could be located in Narsarsuaq, a southern part of the Arctic territory, and another on Mestersvig, on its east coast. (The agreement also calls for the modernization and expansion of US Pituffik Space Base in Greenland, which currently supports DoD early warning and missile defense capabilities.)

“We’ve seen US officials measuring up the [Narsarsuaq] runway there, so [that’s] a pretty clear indication,” of interest in reopening and potentially expanding the base, explained Søndergaard. He noted that the second location is of interest to Washington “when it comes to surveilling potential Russian activity down the east coast of Greenland.”

In the end, despite how Trump could present the apparent military expansion as a major success, it does not look like the US is entering a deal that is “substantially different from the existing 1951 [defense treaty] agreement,” allowing it to build up forces on Greenland, according to Søndergaard.