Trump: Denmark Deal Gives US Lasting Control of Greenland
Trump announced a security deal with Denmark, claiming lasting US control over Greenland. Copenhagen says sovereignty stays Danish; signing is set for next week in New York.
US President Donald Trump announced on Friday, September 18, that Washington, Copenhagen and Nuuk had reached a security agreement on Greenland that, in his words, gives the United States lasting control over the island. For Serbia, an EU candidate country whose foreign policy leans on transatlantic consensus, the deal is another sign of how major powers now read sovereignty and a people’s right to self-determination, questions Belgrade watches closely given its own experience with Kosovo.
Trump posted the news on his platform Truth Social, saying he had secured what he called a full guarantee of a future American presence on the island from representatives of Denmark and Greenland.
“Under my direction, we have worked with representatives of Denmark and Greenland to guarantee that the United States will FOREVER have the full ability to do what is necessary on Greenland, in order to secure and defend the safety of Greenland and the United States of America,” Trump wrote.
He added that the agreement costs the United States nothing and has no expiration date, calling it a deal “without an end.”
What exactly is in the agreement?
According to Trump’s description, the deal means no US adversary may keep a military base or military presence on Greenland, or make “sensitive investments” there, without Washington’s written approval. Trump also announced that the US would immediately begin building “a large military presence in the appropriate part of Greenland, of which there are many,” working with the island’s administration. He did not specify which locations were involved or how many troops would be stationed there.
Denmark and Greenland confirmed in a joint statement on Friday that the deal had been reached, but framed the outcome differently than Trump did.
What are Copenhagen and Nuuk saying?
Danish Prime Minister Mette Frederiksen said the agreement does not transfer sovereignty over Greenland to the United States.
“The agreement strengthens our shared security in the Arctic and the North Atlantic region, and that is why it is good for both NATO and Europe. At the same time, this is an agreement that recognizes the sovereignty and territorial integrity of the Kingdom and the Greenlandic people’s right to self-determination,” Frederiksen said in the statement.
Greenland’s prime minister, Jens-Frederik Nilsen, called the deal beneficial for all sides.
“It is a pleasure to enter into an agreement that secures and strengthens the security of Greenland, the Kingdom of Denmark, the United States and the Western alliance. The agreement recognizes Greenland’s interests and our place in international cooperation,” Nilsen wrote, adding that the deal is “to the benefit of all of us.”
According to the statement from Copenhagen and Nuuk, Denmark, Greenland and the US are due to sign the agreement next week in New York, alongside the United Nations General Assembly session. Al Jazeera also reports that the deal needs approval from the parliaments in Nuuk and Copenhagen before it takes effect, while NBC News gives no timeline for that vote.
Context: from threats to negotiations
The deal comes eight months after Trump threatened in January to take Greenland “one way or the other,” a threat he later softened, though his administration kept working to expand US influence on the island, including a May visit by his special envoy for Greenland, Louisiana Governor Jeff Landry. Despite strong opposition to Trump’s earlier threats, polls show a large majority of Greenlanders reject US annexation; even so, Greenland’s government continued negotiating with Denmark and the United States on security matters alongside that resistance. Greenland has long drawn interest from the US, Russia and China because of its strategic position in the Arctic and its large mineral reserves.
What does this mean for Belgrade and the region?
The gap between Trump’s version of the deal, which describes lasting American control, and Denmark’s version, which insists on sovereignty and self-determination, shows how differently the same words can sound in Washington and in the capitals of small European states. Belgrade follows that debate closely, since questions of sovereignty, territorial integrity and a people’s right to self-determination also come up over Kosovo, where Serbia has spent years insisting on the same terms Copenhagen is now invoking. The public has not yet seen the final text of the agreement, and its fate depends on the signing in New York next week and on votes in the Nuuk and Copenhagen parliaments, for which no date has been announced.
