The United States, Denmark and Greenland signed a new security agreement Tuesday that keeps the Arctic territory formally part of Denmark while expanding American military access there, a deal that Denmark's ambassador to the United Nations says benefits everyone involved. The agreement, negotiated for months behind the scenes by officials from all three governments, arrives after President Donald Trump spent much of his second term threatening to seize Greenland outright.
Greenland is a semiautonomous territory of roughly 56,000 people, according to denmark.dk, and its foreign, defense and security policy remain outside the powers transferred to its own self-government. Denmark's UN ambassador, Christina Lassen, told the assembly that the new agreement strengthens the defense of Greenland, the NATO area and the American continent, and that it benefits Greenland, Denmark, the United States, NATO, Europe and international peace and security, according to WTOP News. She added that progress can still be made through consultation, per the same report.
The deal itself largely reiterates the terms of the existing 1951 Defense of Greenland Agreement while granting Washington new authorities over aspects of the island's security, according to the Atlantic Council. All three parties must still consent before any new U.S. defense areas are established, and the new pact extends that consent requirement to unmanned military installations, the Atlantic Council notes.
A Deal Rooted in 1951, Rewritten for a New Arctic Rivalry
The 1951 agreement gave the U.S. military the right to expand its presence and build installations across Greenland while recognizing the sovereignty of the Kingdom of Denmark, according to History.com. That pact led to construction of Thule Air Base between 1951 and 1953 and was last amended in 2004 to recognize Greenland's Home Rule government without curbing U.S. military operations there. The United States has maintained a military presence in Greenland since 1945, per WTOP's reporting, though it greatly reduced that footprint after the Cold War ended.
Where American forces once numbered in the thousands across 17 bases and installations, the U.S. presence today includes roughly 200 soldiers stationed at Pituffik Space Base in northwest Greenland, according to the same WTOP account. Pituffik supports missile warning, missile defense and space surveillance operations for the United States and NATO, and TIME reports the base already provides missile warning and space surveillance capabilities. The new agreement calls for enhanced presence, improved surveillance and increased cooperation and interoperability with NATO allies in the region, per TIME's account, and it establishes guarantees that only the United States and its allies can make sensitive investments in Greenland.
Trump's Reversal From Threats to a Signed Pact
Trump first expressed a desire to acquire Greenland in 2019 and, during his second term, threatened to seize the territory from Denmark, according to WTOP. He has said the United States needed to take Greenland to prevent Russia or China from doing the same, though he also said he would rather make a deal for the island. Danish Prime Minister Mette Frederiksen warned that a U.S. takeover of Greenland would amount to the end of the Atlantic alliance, per the same report.
The security agreement signed Tuesday eased those tensions, at least for the moment, WTOP reports. Trump approved the deal and said at the United Nations that it would be tremendous for Europe, the United States and Greenland, adding that the U.S. would immediately begin developing a large military presence in appropriate locations and that he planned to build two major military bases there. He did not respond to questions about whether a U.S. acquisition of Greenland was off the table, according to WTOP.
Denmark has pledged to invest more than $6 billion in defense capabilities for Greenland, including additional F-35 fighter jets and P-8 surveillance aircraft purchased from the United States, according to the Arctic Institute. The institute also notes that Chinese companies have sought mining investments in Greenland under Beijing's 2018 Arctic policy, though many of those projects have been put on hold for security reasons.
What Stays the Same Under Greenland's Self-Rule
Greenland's Self-Government Act took effect on June 21, 2009, replacing the 1979 Home Rule Arrangement and establishing the elected Inatsisartut parliament alongside the Naalakkersuisut government, according to Denmark's Prime Minister's Office. Foreign, defense and security policy still cannot be transferred to those self-government authorities, and the Danish government and parliament, the Folketing, retain responsibility for conducting foreign policy and entering international obligations. The Self-Government Act nonetheless recognizes the people of Greenland as holding a right to self-determination under international law, the office states.
An analysis published by Diplomacy and Law before the signing described the proposed arrangement as one that would expand American military access while restricting certain foreign military and investment activities in Greenland, cautioning that necessary national parliamentary procedures still had to follow. Whether the agreement signed Tuesday has since cleared all such procedures was not addressed in the available reporting.
