The Greenland US security deal, signed on 22 September by Washington, Copenhagen and Nuuk, gives the United States permanent authority over security arrangements on the Arctic island while leaving it under Danish and Greenlandic sovereignty, officials confirmed.
President Donald Trump announced the agreement, saying it gives the United States ‘permanent control over security, and all other needs, in Greenland, completely addressing ALL of our many U.S. concerns.’
He added his administration would ‘immediately’ begin developing a larger military presence on the mineral-rich territory.
What the Greenland US security deal contains
The agreement bans any non-NATO military base in Greenland and limits adversaries from making investments there, according to a State Department official who was not authorised to comment publicly and spoke on condition of anonymity.
It also explicitly bars China and Russia from establishing a base on or near the island.
According to NBC News, the deal allows for the establishment of ‘Golden Dome’ missile-defence capabilities in Greenland, extending the continental missile-shield programme to the strategically vital Arctic territory.
EL PAÍS English reports the agreement carries no end date and requires any future independent Greenlandic state to remain within the Atlantic Alliance, a clause that binds the island’s security orientation regardless of any change in its constitutional status.
Parliamentary ratification by both the Danish and Greenlandic governments is still required before the deal can be enforced.
Denmark’s prime minister, Mette Frederiksen, said the agreement ‘recognizes the sovereignty and territorial integrity’ of Greenland and Denmark and upholds both peoples’ right ‘to self-determination.’
Greenland’s prime minister, Jens-Frederik Nielsen, said the emerging deal ‘recognizes Greenland’s interests and our place in the international cooperation.’
Months of threats preceded the agreement
Trump had spent months demanding Denmark sell Greenland to the United States and declining to rule out taking the island by military force, even though Denmark is a NATO ally.
Denmark and Greenland repeatedly stated the island was not for sale. Russia and much of Europe also opposed the US push.
Secretary of State Marco Rubio called the outcome a ‘historic deal’ and a ‘huge win’ for the United States.
‘Greenland will forever be part of the strategic defense area of North America and exclude any adversary from it and the surrounding area,’ Rubio said. ‘This deal permanently and completely addresses our national security concerns in Greenland.’
Trump had argued the United States needed Greenland to deter Russia and China, and had made repeated claims of Chinese and Russian military forces operating near the island’s coastline.
The US already operates Pituffik Space Base in northwestern Greenland, which was built after the Defence of Greenland Treaty was signed in 1951 and supports missile warning, missile defence and space surveillance for both the US and NATO.
More than two-thirds of Greenland lies within the Arctic Circle, making it central to the defence of North America since the Second World War.
Imran Bayoumi, an associate director at the Atlantic Council‘s Scowcroft Center for Strategy and Security, said Trump’s earlier threats had caused lasting damage.
‘I think Americans really underestimate how damaging it was for the image of the United States in Europe,’ he said. ‘Greenlanders, Danes, Europeans saw this as a real attack on their sovereignty, and it’s going to take a lot of work to repair.’
Trump closed his announcement on a conciliatory note: ‘We will be very protective of it!’
The next formal step is parliamentary votes in Copenhagen and Nuuk to ratify the deal before it comes into force.
