Washington: US President Donald Trump has announced an agreement with Denmark and Greenland that he says gives Washington permanent control over Greenland’s security, allows an expanded American military presence and restricts access by US adversaries.
In a Truth Social post, Trump said the arrangement would have no expiry and would address US security concerns over the strategically important Arctic island. A State Department official said its provisions would remain in force even if Greenland became fully independent.
“There will be NO COST to the United States!” Trump wrote. He said American representatives had worked with Denmark and Greenland at his direction to secure the arrangement.
The supplied announcements did not include the agreement’s text or statements from Denmark and Greenland. They also did not explain how the planned military expansion would be financed, despite the assertion that the deal would carry no cost to American taxpayers.
Trump said the agreement gave Washington authority over potential military activity and sensitive investments by adversaries.
“Additionally, from now on, no U.S. 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,” he wrote.
The president also announced plans to begin expanding the US military presence. He did not identify proposed sites, specify troop numbers or provide a construction timetable.
“We will immediately begin the process of developing a large Military presence in the appropriate part of Greenland, of which there are many,” Trump said.
“We will work with the people of Greenland in its development and construction.”
Secretary of State Marco Rubio described the arrangement as a permanent guarantee of US security interests in the Arctic.
“Greenland will forever be part of the strategic defence area of North America and exclude any adversary from it and the surrounding area,” Rubio said.
“This deal permanently and completely addresses our national security concerns in Greenland.”
A State Department official, speaking on background, said the agreement included permanent access, basing and overflight rights. It would allow the US military to increase the number of bases in Greenland as required, the official said.
The official described the military restrictions as an explicit ban on bases and troop deployments by countries outside NATO. China and Russia would be barred from establishing bases or sending troops, according to that account.
On investment, the official said the arrangement would prevent adversaries from entering sensitive sectors in ways that could threaten the United States. Only the US and its allies would be permitted to make sensitive investments, the official said.
The official said the agreement had been reached this week and would continue to apply if Greenland became independent. Trump presented its duration as indefinite and said the arrangement would benefit Denmark, Greenland and US allies.
The US military relationship with Greenland predates this announcement by decades. Washington and Copenhagen signed a defence agreement in 1951. An agreement signed at Igaliku in 2004 amended and supplemented that framework.
Greenland also hosts the US military’s Pituffik Space Base. Its radar operations support missile warning, missile defence and space surveillance, giving the island an established role in monitoring threats to North America.
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