Denmark and Greenland welcomed a new Arctic security agreement that President Donald Trump says will give Washington permanent authority to prevent adversaries such as Russia and China from establishing military or sensitive economic footholds in Greenland while leaving Danish sovereignty and Greenlandic self-determination intact.

By yourNEWS Media Newsroom.

Denmark and Greenland on Saturday welcomed a new security agreement with the United States that would allow a major expansion of the American military presence in Greenland and prevent adversaries such as Russia and China from establishing bases there, while Danish and Greenlandic leaders emphasized that sovereignty over the Arctic territory is not being transferred to Washington.

President Donald Trump has described the agreement in broader terms, saying the United States will obtain “permanent control” over Greenland’s security and other security-related needs. Denmark, Greenland and the United States are expected to formally sign the agreement on the sidelines of the United Nations General Assembly in New York next week. It would then have to complete the required national parliamentary procedures before taking effect.

Danish Foreign Minister Lars Løkke Rasmussen said the arrangement had remained within Copenhagen’s negotiating boundaries and could bring an end to months of uncertainty surrounding Trump’s demands for a greater U.S. role in Greenland.

“A long period of uncertainty will hopefully be replaced by a binding agreement that strengthens security in the Arctic and North Atlantic,” Rasmussen said.

He said the agreement respected Denmark’s “red lines” and had become increasingly important because of changing security conditions in the Arctic.

Danish Prime Minister Mette Frederiksen stressed that expanded U.S. military authority would not amount to American ownership of Greenland.

The agreement “recognises the sovereignty and territorial integrity of the Kingdom and the Greenlandic people’s right to self-determination,” Frederiksen said.

She also called the agreement “good for NATO and Europe.”

An official Danish government statement similarly says the accord will strengthen security for Greenland, Denmark, the United States and the broader Western alliance while preserving the sovereignty and territorial integrity of the Kingdom of Denmark and Greenlanders’ right to determine their own future.

Greenland Prime Minister Jens-Frederik Nielsen also supported the agreement, saying it “recognises Greenland’s interests” and “strengthens” its security.

“It is encouraging that we are about to make an agreement that will ensure and strengthen the security of Greenland, the Kingdom of Denmark, the United States, and the Western Alliance,” Nielsen said in the Danish government’s announcement. “The agreement recognizes Greenland’s interests and our place in the international cooperation. It is to the benefit of us all.”

French President Emmanuel Macron welcomed the development Saturday, saying the agreement helps “to reaffirm Danish sovereignty” over Greenland. European governments had repeatedly backed Denmark and Greenland during the dispute, arguing that Greenland’s political status could be decided only by Greenlanders and Denmark.

Trump presented the agreement as securing the long-term U.S. strategic objective he has pursued since returning to the White House in January 2025.

He called it an “‘Infinite Life’ Agreement, there is no end!” and said the United States would immediately begin building a substantially larger military presence in Greenland.

“From now on, no US adversary can EVER have a base in Greenland, have a military presence in Greenland, or make sensitive investments in Greenland, without our express written approval,” Trump said.

A State Department official said the agreement contains mechanisms specifically intended to prevent Russian or Chinese strategic penetration of the island.

“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 official said.

The precise legal scope of Washington’s new authority has not yet been made public.

Trump has described the arrangement as giving the United States permanent control over Greenland’s security and “all other needs,” while Danish and Greenlandic officials have emphasized sovereignty, territorial integrity and self-determination. The governments have not yet released a complete agreement publicly defining how those provisions interact.

The new agreement nevertheless appears to provide a framework for a substantial expansion of an American military presence that has existed in Greenland for decades.

The United States currently operates Pituffik Space Base in northern Greenland. Several media outlets have reported that Washington is interested in establishing three additional military bases in southern Greenland, although the final locations and size of any new installations have not been publicly detailed.

The United States already possesses extensive military rights in Greenland under a defense agreement signed with Denmark in 1951.

That agreement allows the two governments to establish defense areas needed for the defense of Greenland and the broader North Atlantic Treaty area. An amendment signed in 2004 included Greenland’s government in the arrangement and confirmed that the then-Thule Air Base — now Pituffik Space Base — was the island’s sole designated defense area while providing a mechanism for establishing additional areas.

Those longstanding rights have led some Danish analysts to question how much additional military access Washington has actually gained under the new agreement.

“Shhh. Don’t tell Trump that it’s the Kingdom of Denmark that has prevailed,” U.S. correspondent Jacob Heinel Jensen wrote in the Danish newspaper Berlingske.

Ulrik Pram Gad, a researcher at the Danish Institute for International Studies, said Trump did not obtain his original objective of sovereign American ownership.

Trump “obviously didn’t get in this agreement what he originally set out to have, that is, sovereign control over all of Greenland as a part of the United States,” Gad said.

Trump had repeatedly said during the dispute that the United States needed Greenland for national security, and at the height of tensions he declined to rule out using force to obtain it.

Those remarks generated opposition in Denmark, Greenland and elsewhere in Europe and created an unusual dispute between NATO allies. Denmark repeatedly maintained that Greenland was not for sale and that decisions about the territory’s future belonged to Greenlanders and Denmark.

The new agreement represents a shift away from that confrontation.

Rather than transferring ownership of Greenland, the emerging arrangement leaves the island within the Kingdom of Denmark while strengthening Washington’s military and security position there and placing new restrictions on strategic activity by countries the United States considers adversaries.

Russia and China have been central to Trump’s argument for expanding the American presence.

The administration has repeatedly warned that increased accessibility in the warming Arctic could allow Moscow or Beijing to expand military, commercial or resource-related activity in a region strategically important to North America and Europe.

Russia already possesses an extensive Arctic military infrastructure, while China has pursued investments and commercial opportunities across the broader Arctic, including interest in mining and critical minerals. Washington has expressed particular concern that ostensibly commercial Chinese projects could ultimately create strategic or military vulnerabilities.

Gad said China’s interest has been particularly notable in extractive industries.

“The US is worried that any kind of Chinese footprint could be turned into military assets,” he said.

He also said unanswered questions remain about what American “exclusive access” could mean for other NATO members if Washington establishes additional facilities.

“Trump has been flirting with breaking up the NATO alliance… If Europe is an adversary, how would that position Europe, Denmark and Greenland in that situation?” Gad said.

For now, Danish officials are presenting the agreement as strengthening NATO rather than weakening European access to Greenland.

Earlier this year, European leaders including Macron, Frederiksen, British Prime Minister Keir Starmer, German Chancellor Friedrich Merz and others issued a joint statement declaring that Arctic security should be pursued collectively within NATO while respecting Greenland’s sovereignty and territorial integrity.

NATO has also increased its focus on Arctic security as tensions surrounding Greenland have evolved, with European allies expanding military exercises, investments and operations in the region.

Residents of Greenland, meanwhile, have reacted cautiously as details of the agreement remain limited.

“I don’t know exactly what the agreement is or what has been signed. But whenever the US and Trump are mentioned, I have mixed feelings. I’m not entirely comfortable with how much attention Greenland has right now,” Soren Kreutzmann, a 29-year-old hairdresser in Nuuk, told AFP.

Bibbi Kleist Jepsen, a 64-year-old educator, said she welcomed greater attention to the territory’s defense.

“We hope the leaders have made a good agreement, because our country needs to be protected, both from the air and sea. Denmark had not given that enough attention for many years,” Jepsen said.

Greenland, home to roughly 57,000 people, is a self-governing territory within the Kingdom of Denmark and retains the right to pursue independence. That possibility has added another strategic dimension to Washington’s negotiations because U.S. officials have sought military access that would remain secure regardless of any future change in Greenland’s constitutional relationship with Denmark.

The agreement now awaiting signature appears designed to address that concern without resolving Greenland’s long-term political status in favor of Washington.

Trump has secured a commitment for an enduring American security role and restrictions on Russian and Chinese military or sensitive investment activity. Denmark, meanwhile, says it has preserved sovereignty and territorial integrity, while Greenland says its interests and right to self-determination remain recognized.

The complete significance of the deal will become clearer once its final text is signed and released and the three governments begin the parliamentary procedures required for it to take effect.

Original article