Washington: Denmark, the United States and Greenland are expected to sign an agreement that will allow the US to increase its military presence in the Danish territory and ban adversaries such as Russia and China from building bases or making sensitive investments there.
The agreement was simultaneously announced by all three parties and will be signed at the United Nations next week when world leaders converge on New York for the UN General Assembly’s high-level meetings.
US President Donald Trump claimed the deal as a significant win, after making Arctic security a key plank of his foreign policy agenda. But he frightened European allies with his demands for US control of Greenland, and his threats to perhaps take the Danish territory by force.
Based on details provided by a US State Department official, the deal stops well short of giving the US control over Greenland, but expands American access and puts explicit, permanent restrictions on the presence of NATO adversaries.
It guaranteed the US “complete ability to do what it deems is necessary in Greenland in order to secure and defend the American continent”, the State Department official said, including permanent access, basing and overflight rights.
“This agreement ensures the necessary US military presence in Greenland permanently, allowing the US military to increase the number of bases in Greenland as required.”
Under the deal, a non-NATO country would not be allowed to build a military base or maintain a troop presence in Greenland, and only the US and its allies could make sensitive investments in Greenland.
The US had raised concerns about Chinese investments in the territory, although experts have said these claims are inflated, with most of China’s purported projects there failing or never materialising.
“This agreement guarantees that China and Russia cannot have a base in Greenland, they cannot send troops to Greenland, and the necessary mechanisms are in place to prevent investment in sensitive sectors,” the State Department official said.
Danish Prime Minister Mette Frederiksen welcomed what she described as a “great agreement” between the three parties, which would strengthen their collective security in the Arctic and North Atlantic.
The deal also recognised the sovereignty and territorial integrity of the Kingdom of Denmark, she noted, as well as the Greenlandic people’s right to self-determination.
Greenland Prime Minister Jens-Frederik Nielsen branded the deal a “joyous” agreement that benefited all involved. His statement with Frederiksen noted the deal would need to be ratified by the relevant national parliaments, such as Greenland’s Inatsisartut.
Trump, meanwhile, called it a “dream come true” and said the US would immediately begin developing a large military presence in an appropriate part of the territory.
“For over 100 years, [US] Presidents have known the strategic importance of Greenland, but NONE of them were able to do anything about it,” Trump said on social media. “I am proud to be the President that permanently and conclusively addressed this very important situation.”
Secretary of State Marco Rubio, who played a key role in the negotiations, called it a “huge win” for the US and the American people.
“Greenland will forever be part of the strategic defence area of North America and exclude any adversary from it and the surrounding area,” he said.
“This deal permanently and completely addresses our national security concerns in Greenland.”
America’s military presence in Greenland was already enabled by the 1951 Defence of Greenland Agreement, which gave the US the ability to operate and maintain bases in certain areas by agreement.
The US currently has a base in Greenland, Pituffik on the territory’s northwest coast, which is utilised by the US Space Force and Air Force. There are only about 150 people permanently stationed at the base, down from 6000 at the peak of the Cold War.
Several diplomats played down the significance of the new agreement, noting that while the full text was yet to be revealed, it did not appear radically different to existing arrangements.
Michael McFaul, a former US ambassador to Russia under Barack Obama, said it appeared that Trump had “reaffirmed the security relationship we already had” with Denmark, “but he’s trumpeting it as some radical breakthrough”.
“Fits a pattern, of course,” McFaul wrote on X. “But if it ends this nonsensical talk about planning to annex Greenland, that’s progress.”
Daniel Shapiro, a former US ambassador to Israel, now a distinguished fellow at the Atlantic Council think tank, said: “Chances are it’s a nothingburger dressed up to give Trump a ladder to climb down off the limb he stranded himself on.”
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Michael Koziol is the North America correspondent for The Age and Sydney Morning Herald. He is a former Sydney editor, Sun-Herald deputy editor and a federal political reporter in Canberra.Connect via X or email.