Denmark cautiously optimistic after Trump announces Greenland deal

Denmark’s government said Saturday it was cautiously optimistic after U.S. President Donald Trump announced a deal on Greenland that would bolster the U.S. military presence while keeping the semiautonomous island under Danish control. Greenland’s senior leaders expressed a similar view, saying the agreement had been a long time in the making.

Trump said Friday the agreement would give the United States permanent control over security and other needs in Greenland, and that Washington would immediately begin developing a larger military presence on the mineral-rich Danish territory. The United States and Denmark already have a longstanding security agreement allowing U.S. forces in Greenland, however, and it was not immediately clear how the new deal differs from that arrangement.

Danish Prime Minister Mette Frederiksen’s office said the three governments will sign the agreement next week during the United Nations General Assembly. Parliamentary action in Denmark and Greenland is still required before it can take effect. Foreign Minister Lars Løkke Rasmussen said he hoped a binding agreement would replace a period of uncertainty, strengthen security in the Arctic and North Atlantic, and respect the Kingdom’s red lines.

Greenland government leader Jens-Frederik Nielsen said the deal would benefit collective security and the territory’s continued development. Foreign Minister Múte B. Egede said an agreement was now within reach. An anonymous U.S. State Department official said the deal would bar non-NATO bases in Greenland, limit adversaries’ investments and prevent China and Russia from establishing bases there. Denmark and Greenland did not confirm those details or specify the agreement’s terms, rights or obligations.

U.S., Danish and Greenlandic officials had negotiated privately for months over Trump’s security concerns about the territory, home to about 56,000 people. Denmark and Greenland have repeatedly said Greenland is not for sale and condemned reports that the United States was gathering intelligence there. Greenland pro-sovereignty activist Orla Joelsen said the new agreement explicitly recognizes the sovereignty and territorial integrity of the Kingdom of Denmark and Greenlanders’ right to self-determination.