What does the Greenland Defense Agreement actually contain?
President Trump has said the United States needs more control over Greenland. However, a 1951 treaty already allows extensive military access.
President Donald Trump has asserted that the United States has effectively taken ownership of U.S. military bases in Greenland, making them US sovereign land. A senior Greenland official described the scenario as a “red line that should not be crossed.”
Naadja Nathanielsen holds a vast government portfolio as Minister of Business, Trade, Mineral Resources, Justice and Gender Equality on the Danish-owned Arctic island. In a Jan. 25 interview with USA TODAY, Nathanielsen said Greenland “relinquishing its sovereignty is not on the agenda right now.”
He also said the government had “nothing to offer” since a turbulent diplomatic week in which President Donald Trump backed off his threat to seize the Arctic island by force and continue negotiations.
Her comments follow what President Trump and NATO Secretary-General Mark Rutte said was a “framework agreement” reached on Greenland amid escalating White House threats against Greenland. The announcement was made on January 21st at the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland.
But days after the announcement, Greenlandic and European officials remain unclear about what Mr. Trump and Mr. Rutte agreed to in Davos. Details of the contract have not been disclosed. After the announcement, President Trump abruptly withdrew tariffs he had threatened to impose on eight European countries opposed to attempts to take control of Greenland. He also said he would not use force to achieve that goal.
Nathanielsen said the government only consulted with NATO after Trump and Rutte had already met at an annual event for the world’s global elites in the Swiss Alps. She stressed that NATO has “no jurisdiction or authority” to discuss Greenland’s sovereignty. Her comments echo those of Danish Prime Minister Mette Frederiksen. He said on January 22 that Denmark could negotiate with the United States on almost any issue related to Greenland, but “not on sovereignty.”
Rutte said he did not raise the issue of Denmark’s sovereignty over Greenland in his meeting with Trump. Greenland’s Prime Minister Jens Frederik Nielsen also said he was not in favor of any deal with the United States that would recognize the sovereignty of American military bases in Greenland.
President Trump: ‘Everything we want’ in Greenland
Still, in a series of statements and interviews about what could happen next for Greenland, including one with the New York Post on January 23, President Trump has suggested that what he foresees is taking ownership of the land in Greenland where US military bases are located.
President Trump has been pressuring Denmark for months to hand over the entire island, saying he would not accept anything less than ownership. “We’re going to have everything we want,” Trump said in an interview with the Post.
The idea of giving the United States a sovereign claim to a base in Greenland, similar to the British base in Cyprus, has also been floated among NATO and Western officials, The New York Times reports. The White House did not immediately respond to a request for clarification on the matter.
“We will have full access” to Greenland, a semi-autonomous territory of NATO ally Denmark, Trump said in an interview with Fox Business in Davos. “We’re going to have all the military access we want.”
The United States previously had more than a dozen bases and thousands of troops in Greenland. Today, its base is located at Pitufik Cosmodrome in northwestern Greenland, where about 150 military personnel operate a radar tracking site for mainland missile defense and space surveillance.
Under the terms of the current U.S.-Denmark defense agreement, the Department of Defense is permitted to expand its military presence in Greenland, subject to the consent of Greenland and Denmark. President Trump has repeatedly said the United States needs Greenland to counter threats from Russia and China.
Nathanielsen said in an interview that Greenland, and as far as she knows Denmark, have “no problem” with the idea of NATO adding a permanent mission to Greenland to strengthen Arctic security. “We think that would be a good solution,” she said.
“We need to understand what the problems America is seeing and where they are.”
Nathanielsen said President Trump’s threats have caused deep anxiety in Greenland, and he does not believe it will go away anytime soon, adding that there is also concern among Greenlanders that the U.S. president may change his tactics or ideas again. “Our job as politicians and ministers is to try to get things back on track and figure out how to deal with this through dialogue,” she said.
