President Trump acknowledged that the United States might not ultimately occupy Greenland, but said it had gotten everything it wanted from the Danish territory.
President Donald Trump touts ‘full access to Greenland’
President Donald Trump touted “full access to Greenland” through a framework agreement with NATO.
WASHINGTON – President Donald Trump said the United States has “full access” to Greenland and can build as many military bases on the Arctic island as it wants as a result of a deal he claims he negotiated.
The framework is still being negotiated, President Trump told Fox Business anchor Maria Bartiromo. But as he concluded a visit to the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland, he said: “We will have everything we want. Everything we want will be free.”
President Trump said: “I don’t have to pay anything. We’ll have full access to Greenland. We’ll have all the military access we want.”
President Trump acknowledged that the United States may not be able to formally acquire Greenland, as it previously claimed.
Regarding U.S. ownership, President Trump said, “I don’t know if I can say that, but it might be. It’s possible. Anything can happen.”
Meanwhile, the United States has “full security” and “full access” to Danish territory, and Trump said there is “no time limit” on ending the U.S. military presence there. He also said that the Golden Dome air defense system that the US is building will cover Greenland.
“We got everything we wanted,” Trump said.
“After we made the announcement, we noticed that the stock market went up significantly,” Trump said. “But the details are currently being negotiated. It could be very good.”
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The new agreement, which President Trump announced on January 21 that he had brokered with the NATO secretary general at Davos, marks a stunning fall for the US president, who used his speech at the Swiss summit to criticize America’s allies.
In his speech, he rejected the idea of using military force to take control of the island. Still, he argued that Denmark should transfer ownership of Greenland to the United States. President Trump said the United States has better tools than Denmark to protect the Arctic from foreign enemies.
The stock market did not respond well to President Trump’s pressure campaign. On January 20th, the S&P 500 index hit a three-month low. There was a backlash after President Trump announced on Truth Social that he had “formed the framework for a future agreement on Greenland” after meeting with NATO Secretary-General Mark Rutte and rescinding tariffs he had planned to impose on European countries.
Danish Foreign Minister Lars Lökke Rasmussen breathed a sigh of relief following the announcement, saying in a statement: “The day is ending better than it began.”
“We welcome President Trump’s decision to eliminate the armed occupation of Greenland and suspend the trade war with Europe. Let’s now take a hard look at how we can address America’s security concerns in the Arctic while respecting the red lines of the Kingdom of Denmark.”
A 1951 treaty with Denmark already allows the United States to establish or operate a “defense zone” within Greenland with permission from the Danish government. The treaty allows the United States to work with Denmark to “improve and generally adapt the area for military use.”
It was not immediately clear how the deal that President Trump said he was negotiating would differ. The United States and Denmark previously announced the creation of a “working group” of senior officials to discuss the dispute over Greenland.
