Trump Strikes a Deal on Greenland

U.S. President Donald Trump has signed a deal with the leaders of Greenland and Denmark that will allow a larger U.S. military presence in the key Arctic territory.

As a result, the United States will build two military bases there, Trump announced on Sept. 22. One base will be in southern Greenland, and ​another will be on the east coast.

Trump participated in a signing ceremony on Tuesday morning, alongside Danish Prime Minister Mette Frederiksen and Greenlandic Prime Minister Jens-Frederik Nielsen at the U.N. General Assembly in New York City.

“This HISTORIC deal is critical for American national security and defense in the Arctic Region,” the White House wrote in a statement on X.

“No U.S. adversary will ever be permitted to establish a military presence in Greenland anymore, or make sensitive investments there without our express written approval,” Trump said. “We will immediately begin the process of developing a large military presence in the appropriate locations.”

In a post on Truth Social last week, Trump said the agreement would give the United States “permanent control over security” in Greenland.

“At my direction, we worked with representatives of Denmark and Greenland to guarantee that the United States will FOREVER have the complete ability to do what is necessary in Greenland in order to secure and defend the security of Greenland, and the United States of America,” Trump wrote.

U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio told Fox News on Friday that the agreement blocks Russia and China from having a military presence in Greenland.

End of ‘Time of Uncertainty’

Danish Foreign Minister Lars Lokke Rasmussen said, in a statement posted to social media over the weekend, that this would be a good week for Greenland, a semiautonomous territory, and the Kingdom of Denmark.

“A time of uncertainty will hopefully give way to a binding agreement that strengthens security in the Arctic and the North Atlantic—and thereby our shared security within NATO and Europe—while respecting the Kingdom’s red lines,” he said.

The United States currently has military forces stationed at Pituffik Space Base in the northwest of the territory.

The text of the agreement has not been published, and it remains unclear whether it will be an amendment to the 1951 defense treaty, which is the legal basis for the U.S. military presence, or an entirely new framework. The 1951 treaty was last amended in 2004.

Greenland, which was colonized by Denmark in the 18th century and only became self-governing in 2009, lies between Scandinavia and North America and is known to have significant mineral resources.

It is three times the size of Texas but has only 57,000 inhabitants, most of whom live along the coast.

During the Cold War, the United States maintained 17 installations and had more than 10,000 personnel on Greenland to counter the Soviet threat, but there was a significant drawdown in the 1990s and 2000s.

Since returning to the White House in January 2025, Trump has repeatedly said the United States must purchase or annex Greenland “for the purpose of national security” before Russian or Chinese interests are entrenched in the area.

Greenland straddles key sea lanes, including trans-Arctic shipping corridors, and is rich in critical minerals and rare earths.

The Danish government has promised to beef up its military capabilities in Greenland, but this has not satisfied the Trump administration.

In January, Trump had threatened to impose a 10 percent tariff on eight European countries that opposed U.S. efforts to acquire Greenland.

—Chris Summers; Jackson Richman; Stacy Robinson 

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—Stacy Robinson