Trump, Greenland, Denmark to sign deal in bid to end Arctic standoff

US President Donald Trump is due to meet with leaders of Greenland and Denmark on Tuesday to sign a deal that will allow a larger US military presence in Greenland and could end a standoff over the strategically located and mineral-rich island.

The agreement will allow the US to expand its military footprint in Greenland, said three people familiar with the matter.

In addition to the existing Pituffik space base, the deal is expected to open two new military sites: Narsarsuaq, a former Cold War airbase whose population has dwindled to a few dozen, and Mestersvig, used by the Sirius dog sled patrol, an elite Danish special forces unit.

Greenland, a former colony and now a semi-autonomous territory of the Kingdom of Denmark, sits between the Arctic and North America and holds vast energy resources.

Trump’s refusal to rule out military or economic force to acquire it triggered a diplomatic crisis in January within Nato and forced Denmark and the island’s government into intensive negotiations.

Trump will meet with Danish Prime Minister Mette Frederiksen and Greenland Prime Minister Jens-Frederik Nielsen at the UN General Assembly in New York for the trilateral signing ceremony.

Danish foreign minister Lars Lokke Rasmussen has said the agreement will place Arctic security under Nato’s collective watch rather than leaving it to Washington and Copenhagen alone.

Trump said on Friday the deal gives the US “permanent control over security, and all other needs, in Greenland”. Denmark has not responded to Trump’s assertion but has said the agreement respects the kingdom’s sovereignty and Greenland’s right to self-determination.

“The reason we can conclude this agreement, which is beneficial from Greenlandic, American and European perspectives, and on behalf of the Kingdom of Denmark, is that it is a matter of security policy,” Frederiksen said in New York on Monday.

The text remains unpublished ahead of Tuesday’s signing. It is unclear whether the agreement amends a 1951 defence treaty that has been the legal basis for a US presence, or operates as a new framework.

The deal marks a shift from Trump’s earlier ambitions for an outright acquisition of Greenland, an island three times the size of Texas with a population of only 57,000 scattered along its rugged coastline.

However, it represents a significant expansion of US military infrastructure on the island, the first major increase since the Cold War when the US maintained 17 installations and more than 10,000 personnel there.