Denmark Says US-Greenland Security Pact Strengthens Arctic Defence as Trump Annexation Tensions Ease
By Sadaf Sundas Riaz — SCN News
UNITED NATIONS — Denmark told the United Nations on Monday that its new security agreement with the United States and Greenland strengthens the defence of Greenland, NATO territory and the American continent, presenting the pact as a shared security arrangement after months of tensions triggered by President Donald Trump’s demands for greater U.S. control over the strategically important Arctic island.
Denmark’s Permanent Representative to the United Nations, Christina Markus Lassen, used her address to the 81st session of the General Assembly to publicly endorse the agreement signed by Trump, Danish Prime Minister Mette Frederiksen and Greenland Prime Minister Jens-Frederik Nielsen in New York last week. Lassen said the agreement was beneficial to Greenland, Denmark, the United States, NATO and Europe, as well as international peace and security.
The agreement permits an expanded U.S. military presence in Greenland while leaving sovereignty over the territory unchanged. It was negotiated after months of confrontation between Washington, Copenhagen and Nuuk over Trump’s repeated argument that the United States needed greater control of Greenland to prevent Russia or China from expanding their influence in the Arctic.
Under the pact, the United States can establish additional defence areas at Narsarsuaq in southern Greenland and Mestersvig in eastern Greenland, supplementing the existing U.S. presence at Pituffik Space Base in the north. The agreement also gives U.S. military aircraft broad access to Greenlandic territory and provides for American military vessels to operate in territorial waters under the terms agreed by the three parties.
The agreement specifically identifies defence of Greenland, the North Atlantic Treaty area and the American continent among its objectives. It also calls for stronger NATO engagement across the Arctic through military planning, presence, exercises and joint intelligence gathering as strategic competition in the High North increases.
The pact includes provisions relevant to Trump’s proposed Golden Dome missile-defence system, stating that U.S. access can support defence of the American continent, including establishment of such a system. Greenland sits along strategically important approaches between North America, Europe and Russia, giving the territory an increasingly prominent role in U.S. and NATO defence planning.
At the same time, the agreement explicitly reaffirms the sovereignty and territorial integrity of the Kingdom of Denmark and recognizes Greenlanders’ right to self-determination. Frederiksen said after the signing that those principles were embedded in the agreement, while Nielsen said it recognized Greenland as a people with the right to determine its own future.
That language addresses one of the central disputes that had strained relations between Washington and Copenhagen. Trump repeatedly argued that the United States needed Greenland for national security and had previously refused to rule out using force to acquire it. Danish and Greenlandic leaders rejected any transfer of sovereignty while saying they were prepared to negotiate expanded defence cooperation with Washington.
The dispute had become unusually serious for NATO because it involved the U.S. president raising the prospect of acquiring territory belonging to a fellow alliance member. Danish Prime Minister Frederiksen warned during the confrontation that a forcible U.S. takeover would threaten the foundations of the transatlantic alliance, while Greenland’s government repeatedly insisted that decisions over the island’s future belonged to Greenlanders.
Months of negotiations eventually produced the trilateral agreement signed on the sidelines of the UN General Assembly on Sept. 22. Trump welcomed the accord at the signing ceremony, describing it as beneficial for the United States, Europe and Greenland, although he did not directly answer when asked whether his earlier ambition to acquire Greenland was permanently off the table.
The agreement also seeks to limit strategic access to Greenland by countries outside NATO and the European Union. Its provisions call for investment screening and security cooperation intended to prevent foreign actors considered security threats from gaining control, significant influence or access to sensitive information in strategically important sectors.
Russia and China have been central to Washington’s arguments for expanding Arctic defence. The agreement itself cites increased military activity and growing strategic interest by adversaries in the Arctic and High North as reasons for strengthening the existing defence arrangements between the United States, Denmark and Greenland.
The Arctic has become increasingly important to NATO as melting sea ice opens new maritime routes and major powers increase their military and economic activity in the region. Greenland also contains significant mineral resources, including rare-earth deposits, adding an economic and supply-chain dimension to the security competition surrounding the island.
The new accord supplements a U.S.-Danish defence agreement dating to 1951 and arrangements subsequently updated in 2004. Washington already possessed substantial military access rights in Greenland, but the latest pact formalizes additional defence areas and strengthens the permanent framework for future U.S. and NATO operations.
The agreement does not have a fixed expiration date and can be amended only by mutual consent. It also anticipates the possibility that Greenland could eventually become independent from Denmark. If that happens, Denmark and Greenland are required under the pact to ensure that an independent Greenland assumes the agreement’s obligations and remains in NATO, including applying for membership if necessary.
Greenland currently has extensive self-government while remaining within the Kingdom of Denmark, and independence remains a matter for Greenlanders themselves. Nielsen emphasized at the signing that the new agreement recognizes that right to self-determination while also acknowledging Greenland’s role in collective Arctic security.
The agreement still requires the necessary national parliamentary procedures before entering into force. Denmark’s government said signed copies are being held by the United States, Denmark and Greenland in English, Danish and Greenlandic.
Lassen’s remarks at the UN on Monday provided Denmark’s clearest diplomatic presentation of the agreement since the signing. Rather than framing the pact as a concession to Washington after the confrontation over ownership of Greenland, Copenhagen presented it as a collective security agreement extending from Greenland and the Arctic across NATO territory to North America.
The Danish ambassador closed her comments on the pact by saying that progress remained possible when countries “consult the compass,” after a dispute that had placed unusual pressure on relations between three governments that are now parties to the same long-term Arctic security arrangement.