Trump Signs Deal: US Gets Two New Bases in Greenland

The United States, Denmark and Greenland signed a new security agreement on Tuesday, September 22, on the sidelines of the 81st session of the United Nations General Assembly in New York, handing Washington broad military access to the world’s largest island. The document was signed by US President Donald Trump, Greenland’s Prime Minister Jens Frederik Nielsen and Danish Prime Minister Mette Frederiksen, closing one of the most sensitive issues in Washington’s relations with its European allies after months of dispute. For Serbia, which as an EU candidate country must align its own policy on foreign investment with Brussels’ rules, the agreement stands out for the screening mechanism it introduces for investment from outside NATO and the EU, the same kind of oversight of Chinese and Russian capital that is being debated in Belgrade as well.

What the agreement covers

Under the text of the document, the US gains the right to “modernize and expand” the existing Pituffik Space Base in northwestern Greenland, the northernmost American military installation, which serves as an early warning system against ballistic missiles. Alongside it, the agreement provides for two entirely new bases: Narsarsuak in the south of the island and Mestersvig in the east, roughly 1,530 kilometers apart.

Additional provisions:

• American military aircraft may fly and land anywhere in Greenland, including the island’s territorial waters
• no country outside NATO may build a military installation or maintain a permanent military presence without the unanimous consent of Denmark, Greenland and the US
• tighter screening is introduced for foreign investment from countries outside NATO and the European Union in sensitive sectors, including critical infrastructure and raw material extraction
• the agreement has no expiration date and remains in force even if Greenland were to become independent from Denmark one day, with confirmation that sovereignty over the island still belongs to the Kingdom of Denmark
• new defense zones beyond the existing bases can only be proposed with the joint approval of all three parties, and a proposal is first reviewed by a joint committee within 90 days

Does the US get full control over Greenland

Trump presented the agreement as the fulfillment of what he called, in a social media post on Friday before the signing, the “full capability” of the US to do whatever is needed in Greenland. A reading of the text itself shows something narrower than that announcement: if Washington wants to expand its military presence beyond the three named bases, it must go through a procedure before a standing committee, and if no agreement is reached within 90 days, the matter is escalated to the level of deputy ministers and then to ministers themselves, meaning the US secretary of state and his counterparts. The text of the agreement does not specify what happens if consensus still cannot be reached at that point. Greenland and Denmark, for their part, retain the right to approve US requests to build unmanned military installations through a fast track procedure.

At the signing ceremony, Trump said: “We will have the full capability to do what is necessary to defend the American continent, as well as Europe,” and described the earlier course of the negotiations by saying: “This has been an incredible journey with exceptional people.”

Frederiksen compared the agreement to the earlier US defense rights in Greenland, established back in 1951:

“Seventy five years ago we signed a defense agreement for Greenland. Today we are signing an even bigger and better agreement, a deal that can last forever.”

Since that first pact was concluded, the American military presence in Greenland has fallen from thousands of troops spread across 17 bases in 1945 to roughly 200 troops now stationed at Pituffik.

Nielsen called the new agreement historic and said it resolves a dilemma that had weighed on relations with Washington for months, after Trump repeatedly said earlier that he did not rule out taking Greenland by force, a statement that drew a sharp response from Frederiksen, who warned that such a move would in practice mean the breakup of the NATO alliance. “Your security is our security, and our security is your security,” Nielsen said, adding: “This agreement should remove any doubt, today and in the future, about where Greenland’s loyalty lies.”

Reaction from Brussels and NATO headquarters

NATO Secretary General Mark Rutte welcomed the agreement in a post on X:

“This agreement, together with NATO’s growing role in securing this vital region, strengthens our collective security and contributes to a safer and more stable future for all of us.”

European Council President António Costa called it “a positive step for transatlantic cooperation and Arctic security,” based, he said, on “respect for sovereignty, territorial integrity and the right of the people of Greenland to self determination.”

What it means for the region

The agreement comes as competition among major powers over the Arctic accelerates, with Russia and China as the main players whose influence and investment the new document explicitly seeks to limit. For countries like Serbia, still on the path to European Union membership, this model of screening foreign investment from outside the transatlantic alliance points to the direction Brussels’ joint foreign and security policy is taking, a direction Belgrade will have to align with in its accession negotiations before it becomes a full member.

The text of the agreement, according to ABC News, does not specify what happens if the three parties fail to reach agreement even after the dispute is escalated to ministerial level over any future expansion of military presence beyond the three agreed bases, so the first test of that mechanism depends on whether, and when, Washington proposes a new defense zone at all.