A long-simmering dispute over Greenland’s strategic future is set to culminate tomorrow in New York, where Denmark, Greenland and the United States plan to sign a new security agreement that Copenhagen says will bring Arctic defence more firmly under NATO oversight.
The deal is due to be signed at the UN General Assembly at 10.30am local time (3.30pm Irish time). The text has not been published, but President Donald Trump has claimed it grants the US “permanent control”.
Denmark and Greenland have not addressed Mr Trump’s characterisation directly. Both have said the agreement will benefit the Arctic island while respecting its sovereignty.
A White House official said Mr Trump will meet Danish Prime Minister Mette Frederiksen and Greenland Prime Minister Jens-Frederik Nielsen in New York for a trilateral signing ceremony.
“The three leaders will formalise their new agreement that will secure and defend the security of Greenland and the United States,” the official said.
Donald Trump said the deal gave the US ‘permanent control over security and all other needs in Greenland’
The signing follows months of pressure from Mr Trump, who has argued the United States should control Greenland and has at times declined to rule out military or economic force to acquire the semi-autonomous Danish territory.
Those threats, which escalated in January, sparked a diplomatic crisis inside NATO and drove Denmark and Greenland into talks with Washington aimed at easing tensions.
Denmark’s Foreign Minister Lars Lokke Rasmussen said on Sunday that the agreement would be designed so that responsibility for Arctic security would not rest solely with either Denmark or the United States.
“It (the agreement) will be in a form where responsibility for security in the Arctic is not only Danish or American,” Mr Rasmussen told national broadcaster TV2.
He added that, to a large extent, “it would be NATO that looks after the Arctic”.
Boosting NATO’s ‘cohesion’
It was not yet clear whether the new deal changes the 1951 defence agreement that provides the legal foundation for the US military presence in Greenland.
Ulrik Pram Gad, a researcher at the Danish Institute for International Studies (DIIS), said the current dispute appeared to be reshaping alliance dynamics.
“It appears that we are now using this crisis to try to strengthen NATO’s cohesion through Greenland,” he said.
Washington’s interest in Greenland stretches back to World War Two. In 1941, the US signed an agreement with Danish envoy Henrik Kauffmann, who acted without authorisation from Denmark, which was then under German occupation.
Greenland’s government has sought to reassure the public about the deal
The aim was to prevent Greenland from falling into German hands and to protect the North Atlantic supply route linking North America and Europe.
Under that arrangement, the United States built airfields, naval facilities and weather stations across the island, with the number of US military personnel reaching about 5,500 by 1943, according to DIIS.
In 1946, former president Harry Truman sought to purchase Greenland as a strategic asset for $100 million in gold, but Copenhagen refused. A new agreement followed in 1951, granting the US military extensive rights in Greenland while tying those rights to NATO’s existence.
“I don’t think Denmark and Greenland will sign if the same NATO clause isn’t included,” Gad said.
Promoting ‘security, stability and cooperation’
During the Cold War, the US operated 17 military installations in Greenland and stationed more than 10,000 personnel there. Today, only Pituffik Space Base remains, staffed by around 150 US military personnel.
A NATO spokesperson said on Saturday that the alliance welcomed the new agreement, saying it would “help advance security, stability and cooperation in this vital region”.
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US, Denmark reach Greenland security agreement
Greenland and Denmark say deal with US will not impact sovereignty
Mr Rasmussen, who travelled to New York overnight, declined to detail what the agreement contains.
“But we have said from the start that we are open to accommodating the United States’ legitimate security interests,” he told Danish news agency Ritzau.
In a post on Truth Social last Friday, Mr Trump said the agreement would give the United States “permanent control over security, and all other needs, in Greenland,” and that no US adversary could establish a base or military presence there without Washington’s written approval.
Denmark has not responded to that assertion. Copenhagen has previously acknowledged it underinvested in Greenland’s defence for decades and has pledged to expand its military presence on the island, including deploying more NATO troops.
Greenland’s government has meanwhile tried to calm public concern about the deal.
Erik Jensen, an opposition MP in Greenland, wrote on Facebook that he had read the draft agreement.
“I feel reassured and am not worried,” he said, adding that the island’s foreign minister was handling the work well.
