Denmark and the US reach Arctic security pact over Greenland

Denmark and the US have reached an Arctic security pact that would offer the US "permanent control over security" in the semi-autonomous Greenland.

The agreement follows over a year of diplomatic crisis between the two countries, with alarm bells ringing across NATO when US president Donald Trump threatened to annex the mineral-rich island for "national security reasons."

In a jubilant post to his social platform Truth Social, US president Donald Trump said the deal “gives the United States permanent control over security, and all other needs, in Greenland, completely addressing ALL of our many U.S. concerns”.

What does the agreement entail?

While the official content of the deal is yet to be released, Trump insists that a major part of the agreement is that no US adversary will be able to maintain a military presence in Greenland or "make sensitive investments in Greenland, without our express written approval".

This was backed up by a State Department official, who told Reuters that non-NATO countries would be prohibited ​from building a base in Greenland.

The US will also be granted permanent access, basing and overflight rights, the official added, with the conditions reportedly staying in place even if Greenland becomes independent.

In his post online, Trump said that the US would soon deploy a large military presence on the island, in the wake of the deal.

Greenland is already home to a large US military base, called the Pituffik Space Base, where around 150 US personnel are stationed in the northwestern part of the island, controlling missile warning systems, ballistic missile tracking radars, and space surveillance.

What have the reactions been?

Confirming the news on Friday evening, Mette Frederiksen, Denmark's prime minister, welcomed the deal, calling it "an agreement that strengthens our common security in the Arctic and the North Atlantic area."

Going on to say that there was now a "prospect of a good agreement for Greenland, the kingdom of Denmark and the US," Frederiksen said the deal was expected to be signed next week at the United Nations General Assembly in New York.

In a similar vein, Greenland's prime minister Jens-Frederik Nielsen also said the deal would "ensure and strengthen" the security of the three countries, along with a greater Western alliance.

The deal will only go into effect following ratification by the Danish and Greenland parliaments.

A NATO spokesperson has welcomed the announcement, saying the deal would "help advance security, stability and cooperation ​in this vital region."

However the agreement follows months of fallout between the US, NATO and Europe, sparked from Trump's threats in January 2026 to annex the island, possibly with military force, and levy a 25 per cent import tax on goods from several European nations unless Denmark ceded the territory to the United States.

At one point, the Danish government even set up a unit in its foreign ministry to monitor Trump’s late-night statements and social media posts throughout the night. 

The reactions from Greenland's citizen population of 57,000 are likely to be mixed, with many previously having expressed concern over Trump's ambitions.

In May earlier this year, hundreds of Greenlanders gathered outside a new American consulate in the capital Nuuk to protest against the States' ambition for greater influence over the island.

Why has the deal come about?

The United States' interest in Greenland is nothing new; in fact, the island, which was governed by Denmark for centuries until it gained self-rule in 1979, has been the subject of heavy debate for over 150 years due to its strategic location between the US, Russia, and northern Europe.

Following the purchase of Alaska in 1867, the US began exploring other northern territories, and the following year, the State Department published reports about buying Greenland and Iceland to expand American trade.

While the idea stalled due to internal political battles, it was the first of several attempts at buying the island from Denmark, the most significant being President Harry Truman's 1946 secret offer of $100 million in gold to buy Greenland for strategic military defense, which Denmark rejected.

In the decades since, Greenland's location has become only more strategically significant to both the US and NATO.

Sitting along the great-circle route for airplanes and missiles that may travel between the US and Russia, the US uses the Pituffik Space Base to scan for potential missile launches and track aerospace activity.

Greenland also frames a critical maritime corridor through which Russia’s Northern Fleet submarines and surface vessels must pass to reach the North Atlantic.

As such, Greenland gives NATO the ability to monitor, and, if necessary, contain Russia’s maritime forces.

Trump's interest in Greenland came about during his first term as president back in 2019, when he openly discussed acquiring the territory for its strategic value.

At the time, Danish and Greenlandic leaders dismissed the idea as "not for sale".

However, Trump's interest in Greenland reignited ahead of his return to office, posting on social media in 2024 that US ownership and control of Greenland was an "absolute necessity" for national security.

He insists that Greenland is essential for his plan to build a Golden Dome defence system, and that European allies could co-operate in this endeavour.

The island also has vast, and largely untapped reserves of rare earth minerals, many of which are crucial for technologies including mobile phones and electric vehicles.

With global warming melting Greenland's glaciers and ice sheets, natural deposits are becoming increasingly exposed. Surveys also suggest that billions of barrels of oil and trillions of cubic meters of gas lie offshore, although drilling currently remains suspended due to environmental policies.

While the newly announced deal has yet to indicate if the US will benefit from Greenland's natural reserves, it will block other states from investing in these sectors.