COPENHAGEN, Denmark (AP) – Denmark’s government was cautiously optimistic on Saturday about Donald Trump’s announcement of a deal on Greenland to bolster U.S. military presence there but keep the island under Danish control, following months of threats by the U.S. president to seize the semiautonomous territory of a NATO ally.
In Greenland, the Arctic island’s top leaders echoed that stance and said the deal had been long in coming.
Trump said on Friday that the agreement would give the United States “permanent control over security, and all other needs, in Greenland, completely addressing ALL of our many U.S. concerns.”
Denmark and the U.S. already have a long-standing security agreement that has allowed the U.S. to deploy forces in Greenland and it was not immediately clear how this deal was different from that.
After Trump’s announcement Friday, the office of Denmark’s prime minister, Mette Frederiksen, said the deal will be signed by all three governments next week during the United Nations General Assembly, but parliamentary action is still needed by the Danish and Greenland governments before it can be enforced.
“Next week could be a good week … for Greenland, Denmark, and the United States alike,” Danish Foreign Minister Lars Løkke Rasmussen wrote on Instagram Saturday morning.
“A period of uncertainty will hopefully be replaced by a binding agreement that strengthens security in the Arctic and the North Atlantic – and thus also our shared security within NATO and Europe – while respecting the Kingdom´s red lines,” he added.
Greenland’s government leader Jens-Frederik Nielsen said he was happy about the deal which he said “benefits not only our collective security, but also the continued development here in the country.”
The foreign minister of Greenland, Múte B. Egede, said he was pleased that “we now have an agreement within reach.”
“It has taken some time,” he told Denmark’s TV2 broadcaster. “I’m pleased that we finally have an end product within reach. And it’s about time.”
Trump said that with the agreement, the U.S. would “immediately” begin the process of developing a larger military presence on the mineral-rich Danish territory.
The U.S. had long held several bases and installations on the Arctic territory through the Cold War, before dialing back its presence.
It still operates the remote Pituffik Space Base in northwestern Greenland, built after the U.S. and Denmark signed the Defense of Greenland Treaty in 1951. It supports missile warning, missile defense and space surveillance operations for the U.S. and NATO.
A U.S. State Department official said the agreement bans any non-NATO base in Greenland, limits adversaries from being able to make investments in Greenland, and guarantees that China and Russia cannot have a base on the island. The official was not authorized to comment publicly and spoke on condition of anonymity.
U.S., Greenlandic and Danish officials had quietly negotiated for months behind the scenes, searching for solutions to address some of Trump´s security concerns about a territory of roughly 56,000 residents.
With the announcement of the pact, Trump is able to tout a foreign policy achievement ahead of the midterm elections in the U.S.
After his return to the White House, Trump had called on Denmark to sell the island to the U.S., while insisting Greenland is crucial for U.S. security. He pointedly wouldn’t rule out taking the island by military force, even though Denmark is a NATO ally of the U.S.
Denmark and Greenland repeatedly said the island is not for sale and condemned reports of the U.S. gathering intelligence there. The U.S. push for Greenland was also fiercely opposed by Russia and much of Europe.
Greenland grassroots pro-sovereignty activist Orla Joelsen wrote on X that “our fight against Trump´s ambition to take over Greenland has been won.”
“The new agreement explicitly recognizes the sovereignty and territorial integrity of the Kingdom of Denmark and the Greenlandic people´s right to self-determination,” the activist added.