(AFP) – Denmark on Saturday hailed a “binding” deal announced by US President Donald Trump to give Washington “permanent control” over Greenland’s security and bar Russian and Chinese bases from the Arctic territory. Since returning to the White House in January 2025, Trump has repeatedly insisted that the United States needed to control Greenland for strategic reasons, alarming NATO ally Denmark and sparking fierce pushback from the alliance.
Denmark and Greenland — an autonomous Danish territory — both hailed the agreement and said they would sign it on the sidelines of the UN General Assembly in New York next week. “A long period of uncertainty will hopefully be replaced by a binding agreement that strengthens security in the Arctic and North Atlantic,” Danish Foreign Minister Lars Lokke Rasmussen said on social media. The deal respected Denmark’s “red lines” and was “important” in light of a changed security situation, he said.
– ‘Danish sovereignty’ – While the terms are still unclear, Denmark maintains that its sovereignty remains intact. Prime Minister Mette Frederiksen said the agreement with Washington “recognises the sovereignty and territorial integrity of the Kingdom and the Greenlandic people’s right to self-determination”. It was “good for NATO and Europe,” she said.
Greenland Prime Minister Jens-Frederik Nielsen said the deal “recognises Greenland’s interests” and “strengthens” its security. And French President Emmanuel Macron weighed in Saturday as well, saying the deal helps “to reaffirm Danish sovereignty” over the Arctic territory.
In Greenland’s capital Nuuk, residents expressed ambivalence. “I don’t know exactly what the agreement is or what has been signed. But whenever the US and Trump are mentioned, I have mixed feelings. I’m not entirely comfortable with how much attention Greenland has right now,” Soren Kreutzmann, a 29-year-old hairdresser, told AFP. “We hope the leaders have made a good agreement, because our country needs to be protected, both from the air and sea. Denmark had not given that enough attention for many years,” said Bibbi Kleist Jepsen, a 64-year-old educator.
Trump hailed the deal as an “‘Infinite Life’ Agreement, there is no end!” Washington would immediately start building up a large military presence in the territory, he added. “From now on, no US 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.”
While Trump presented the deal as a major triumph, Danish commentators said he had likely gained little. They noted that, under a 1951 defence pact updated in 2004, Washington was already able to ramp up its military presence on the island provided it informs Denmark and Greenland in advance. “Shhh. Don’t tell Trump that it’s the Kingdom of Denmark that has prevailed,” US correspondent Jacob Heinel Jensen wrote in Danish newspaper Berlingske on Saturday.
Ulrik Pram Gad, a researcher at the Danish Institute for International Studies, said Trump “obviously didn’t get in this agreement what he originally set out to have, that is, sovereign control over all of Greenland as a part of the United States”.
– China, Russia concerns – Trump has repeatedly warned of Russia and China trying to establish a foothold in Greenland as a strategic battle unfolds for supremacy in a warming Arctic. The US State Department left no doubt that they would not be allowed to do so. “This agreement guarantees that China and Russia cannot have a base in Greenland, they cannot send troops to Greenland, and the necessary mechanisms are in place to prevent investment in sensitive sectors,” a State Department official said.
Gad noted that while Russia had little interest in Greenland, China was investing in extractive industries to get a foothold in the Arctic. “The US is worried that any kind of Chinese footprint could be turned into military assets,” he said. Cautioning that the deal’s details remained unknown, Gad said the worry is how “exclusive access” for the US to build bases in Greenland would affect NATO allies from Europe. “Trump has been flirting with breaking up the NATO alliance… If Europe is an adversary, how would that position Europe, Denmark and Greenland in that situation?”
Several media outlets have reported that Washington wants to open three new military bases in southern Greenland, in addition to the Pituffik base it already has in the territory’s north. At the height of the Greenland dispute, Trump would not rule out using force to seize the territory of 57,000 inhabitants, sowing anxiety within the EU and NATO. Tensions have since eased. In an apparent move to assuage Trump, NATO launched a mission to bolster security in the Arctic.
– Camille BAS-WOHLERT, with Danny KEMP in Washington
© 2024 AFP
