US President Donald Trump has unveiled a new security pact involving Denmark and Greenland which he says will ensure America has “permanent control” over the security and other needs of the Arctic area. The declaration comes months after months of tension over Trump’s repeated demand for more control over Greenland by the United States.
Speaking about the agreement on Truth Social, Trump claimed that the agreement would keep the US enemies of Russia and China from building military bases in Greenland, keeping military forces or making sensitive follow-up investments without Washington’s consent. He even referred to the deal as an “Infinite Life” and immediately stated that the US would launch a bigger military force in the country.
Denmark and Greenland, however, have insisted that the deal does not entail a cession of sovereignty over Greenland to the U.S. This is an agreement based on the territorial status of Greenland in the Kingdom of Denmark and the people of Greenland’s right to self-determination, officials in Copenhagen and Nuuk said. Details and scope of the security arrangements have not been made public yet.
Next week the deal is likely to be formally inked at the United Nations General Assembly in New York. It also needs to pass the Denmark and Greenland parliaments to go into force.
The US already has planes stationed at the Pituffik Space Base in the north-west of Greenland to service its missile warning, defence missile and space surveillance operations for the United States and NATO. A potential agreement would enable Washington to play a larger military role in the strategically important Arctic region.