President Donald Trump on Friday announced an agreement with Greenland and Denmark that gives the U.S. what he described as “permanent control over security, and all other needs” in the Danish island territory.
“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 in a Truth Social post.
Greenland already has a U.S. military presence under a decades-old defense agreement with Denmark.
The deal as described in Trump’s post appears to stop far short of his prior insistence that Greenland must be made a part of the United States.
Greenland has maintained it is not for sale, and the European Union earlier this year united to rebuke Trump over his push to acquire the island.
But Trump signaled Friday that he was satisfied by the new deal, claiming that it addresses “ALL of our many U.S. concerns.”
“There will be NO COST to the United States,” he wrote.
The Danish prime minister’s office in a press release later Friday said that the three governments expect to sign the agreement at the United Nations General Assembly next week.
Greenland Prime Minister Mette Frederiksen said in an included statement that the deal “strengthens our common security in the Arctic and the North Atlantic area and therefore is great for NATO and Europe as well.”
He added that it “recognizes the sovereignty and territorial integrity of the Kingdom and the Greenlandic people’s right to self-determination.”
“We welcome the announcement that an agreement will soon be signed by the United States, Denmark, and Greenland,” NATO spokesperson Allison Hart said in a statement. “The Arctic and the North Atlantic are essential for our collective security, and this agreement will help advance security, stability, and cooperation in this vital region. NATO will continue to do its part to strengthen security in the Arctic.”
Trump’s post included some vague claims about the agreement, including that it guarantees that the U.S. “will FOREVER have the complete ability to do what is necessary in Greenland in order to secure and defend the security of Greenland.”
The official text of any deal was not immediately available. The White House did not immediately respond to CNBC’s request for additional information on the deal.