A map image President Donald Trump posted on his Truth Social account on Jan. 7 (local time), depicting Canada, Greenland, Mexico and numerous island territories across North America all as U.S. territory. Photo courtesy of Truth Social capture
U.S. President Donald Trump said an agreement allowing a large-scale American military presence in Greenland gives Washington “permanent control” over the island’s security. Denmark and Greenland immediately countered that no agreement would undermine Greenland’s sovereignty.
The United States, Denmark and Greenland announced on the 18th that they had reached an agreement on Greenland’s security, Reuters reported on the 19th. Under the deal, the U.S. would station a significant military force in Greenland, and countries hostile to the U.S. would be barred from establishing bases on the island. Key details were not disclosed, however. The announcement left out the size of the U.S. force to be stationed in the Danish autonomous territory and whether formal authority over foreign policy and natural resources would be transferred to the U.S.
Writing on Truth Social the previous day, Trump said the agreement “gives the U.S. permanent control over the security of Greenland, and everything else that is needed.” He wrote that the U.S. would “permanently have the full ability to do whatever is necessary to protect and defend Greenland and the security of the United States.” He also said no hostile country could establish a base or military presence in Greenland, or make sensitive investments there, without explicit written approval from the U.S.
The pushback came from Denmark and Greenland at the same time. Danish Foreign Minister Lars Lokke Rasmussen wrote on Facebook that he hoped “a period of uncertainty will lead to a binding agreement that strengthens security in the Arctic and the North Atlantic,” adding that the deal “strengthens the common security of NATO and Europe while respecting the red lines of the Kingdom.” Greenland Prime Minister Jens-Frederik Nielsen also said on Facebook that the agreement “recognizes the sovereignty and territorial integrity of our Kingdom and the right of Greenlanders to self-determination.”
The agreement is expected to be signed during the U.N. General Assembly next week. Denmark and Greenland said they hoped it would end months of uncertainty triggered by Trump’s threats to take over the island.
Some Greenland residents, however, voiced unease about the agreement with the U.S. Jakob Ludvigsen said the U.S. should not control Greenland and that cooperating with NATO would be better. Marianne Hansen told Reuters that Trump “should stay very, very far away from Greenland,” adding that “we should not expect our children and grandchildren to become Americans in the future.”
Mikkel Vedby Rasmussen, a political science professor at the University of Copenhagen, said the deal would not be the end of Trump’s ambitions regarding Greenland, and even less the end of U.S. strategic interest in the territory and its resources. If Denmark hands formal authority to the U.S., he said, questions would be raised in Greenland about whether it marks “the beginning of replacing the colonial relationship with Denmark with one with the United States.”
NATO, meanwhile, issued a statement welcoming the agreement, saying it would “help advance security, stability and cooperation in this critical region.”