The United States and Denmark have struck an agreement to expand the American military presence in Greenland "permanently" while leaving the Arctic territory under Danish sovereignty, President Trump announced Friday, closing out nearly two years of on-and-off threats by the U.S. president to seize the island by force.
Trump said in a statement that the U.S. had reached terms with "The Kingdom of Denmark, and Greenland" granting Washington "permanent control over security, and all other needs, in Greenland," calling it an "Infinite Life agreement" that comes at "NO COST" to American taxpayers. The three governments plan to formally sign the pact next week on the sidelines of the United Nations General Assembly in New York, though it still requires approval from the Danish and Greenlandic parliaments before taking effect.
Terms of the Agreement
According to details confirmed by U.S. and Danish officials, the deal explicitly bars any non-NATO country from stationing troops or building bases on Greenland and creates a screening mechanism to block Russian and Chinese investment in the territory's ports, airfields and mining projects. It also guarantees the U.S. permanent basing, access and overflight rights that go beyond the 1951 U.S.-Danish defense agreement, which has underpinned the American presence at what is now called Pituffik Space Base in the territory's northwest.
Secretary of State Marco Rubio said the arrangement means Greenland "will forever be part of the strategic defense area of North America" and would "exclude any adversary from it and the surrounding area." Danish Prime Minister Mette Frederiksen described the pact as one that strengthens shared security in the Arctic and North Atlantic, calling it, according to remarks reported Friday, "good for NATO and Europe."
It is gratifying that we are about to enter into an agreement that ensures and strengthens the security of Greenland, the Kingdom of Denmark, the United States and the Western alliance.
Jens-Frederik Nielsen, Premier of Greenland
A Retreat From Annexation Threats
The agreement marks a striking turn from the position Trump staked out for much of his second term, when he repeatedly floated using economic pressure or military force to bring the world's largest island under direct American control, citing its rare-earth mineral deposits and its position astride Arctic shipping and missile-warning routes. Denmark and Greenland's roughly 56,000 residents have consistently rejected annexation in opinion polling even as their governments engaged Washington on an expanded security arrangement, a distinction officials on both sides sought to emphasize Friday.
The deal follows months of quieter negotiations after Copenhagen agreed in principle earlier this year to widen the U.S. footprint at Pituffik in exchange for guarantees that Greenland would not be annexed outright. Trump's announcement drops the annexation threat explicitly while securing many of the strategic outcomes he had been pushing toward: a larger U.S. troop and infrastructure presence, and a veto over rival powers' access. Officials briefed on the terms said the Pentagon intends to begin surveying sites for expanded facilities immediately once the pact is signed.
For Denmark, the agreement caps a tense stretch in which the NATO ally found itself the target of threats from its closest security partner. Greenland's government, which has pursued gradually increasing autonomy from Copenhagen and periodically floated eventual independence, secured language ensuring the security arrangement would remain in force "forever" regardless of any future change in the island's political status, a provision analysts flagged as an unusually durable commitment for a bilateral security pact.
The pact still faces procedural hurdles. Denmark's parliament, the Folketing, and Greenland's Inatsisartut assembly must both ratify the terms before U.S. forces can begin any expansion, a process that could extend into next year. Lawmakers in Copenhagen have signaled broad support, though some Greenlandic legislators have said they want firmer guarantees on revenue-sharing from mineral development before signing off.
The signing ceremony, expected during UN General Assembly week beginning September 22, will bring together Trump, Frederiksen and Nielsen for what officials described as the first formal three-way security agreement of its kind between the three governments.
