US and Denmark reach security deal after Trump’s threats to take island

The agreement would allow the US to expand its military presence, while Denmark and Greenland say it preserves their sovereignty and right to self-determination

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 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”.