Special to WorldTribune.com
By John J. Metzler, October 12, 2026
The UN General Assembly offered the surprise setting for a wide-ranging but long elusive security deal for the United States and Denmark.
Following over a year of tension, political rancor, and uncertainty, the United States, Denmark and Greenland agreed on a wide-ranging security deal through which the massive Arctic island would form an enhanced part of North America’s defensive shield.
At times the traditionally close Danish/American relationship turned tempestuous as the Trump Administration pressed for unprecedented levels of control over Greenland, a vast territory between North America and Europe in the North Atlantic which remains an autonomous region of The Kingdom of Denmark.
The landmark U.S./Danish/Greenland Treaty was formally signed on the sidelines of the United Nations General Assembly. Set to the old Frank Sinatra Song, “My Way” President Donald Trump, Secretary of State Marco Rubio and US/UN Ambassador Mike Waltz joined the Danish Prime Minister Mette Frederiksen and Greenlandic Premier Jens-Frederik Nielson, to sign the three-way defense deal.
U.S. President Donald Trump, Danish Prime Minister Mette Frederiksen, and Greenlandic Premier Jens-Frederik Nielson sign the three-way defense deal. / Video Image
Trump said the deal allows the United States to maintain a permanent security presence in Greenland. He stated on Truth Social “we worked with representatives of Denmark and Greenland to guarantee that the United States will FOREVER have the complete ability to do what is necessary in Greenland in order to secure and defend the security of Greenland, and the United States of America.”
Denmark’s Prime Minister Frederiksen added, “I am pleased that there is a prospect of a good agreement for Greenland, the Kingdom of Denmark and the United States, an agreement which strengthens our common security in the Arctic and North Atlantic area and therefore is great for Europe and NATO as well.”
Significantly she stressed that the accord recognized “the sovereignty and territorial integrity of the Kingdom” as well as “the right of the Greenlandic people to self-determination.”
Greenlandic Prime Minister Jens-Frederik Nielsen also welcomed the breakthrough; “It is joyous that we are about to make an agreement that will ensure and strengthen the security of Greenland, the Kingdom of Denmark, the United States, and the Western alliance.”
Secretary of State Marco Rubio applauded the “historic deal” for the United States.
|
Significantly, it holds an abundance of rare earth elements, like neodymium, dysprosium, plus minerals like lithium. |
Though once a Danish colony, Greenland is an autonomous region of the Danish Kingdom; with a self-governing legislature but remains nonetheless dependent on Copenhagen for defense and foreign affairs. There’s a strong independence movement among the tiny population of 56,000.
But here’s the wider issue.
Since the Second World War, and especially during the Cold War, the USA has kept a military presence on Greenland. There are still key American facilities on the huge island such as the Pituffik Space Base in northwestern Greenland which dates to the U.S./ Denmark Defense of Greenland Treaty in 1951. The early warning radar system at the former Thule base, has over the horizon monitoring capacity for any incoming missiles from Russia. The modernized base supports Space Force monitoring operations for the U.S. and NATO.
|
The agreement gives the U.S. permanent military access, basing and overflight rights and would prevent China and Russia from establishing military bases on the island. |
Curiously in 2022, the Netflix series Borgen, a taught political drama set in Denmark had a string of episodes dealing precisely with this issue of Chinese and Russian mining and security encroachment on the arctic isle. And then the American response.
- This accord forbids Russian and Chinese investment. Greenland, an island of 836,000 sq. miles or three times the size of Texas.
- Significantly, it holds an abundance of rare earth elements, like neodymium, dysprosium, plus minerals like lithium.
This milestone deal for U.S and wider North American security, did not come easily. Early in 2025 President Trump publicly stated he wished to purchase or even annex the arctic isle from Denmark, a close and traditional friend. Denmark, one of America’s oldest allies, was among the founding members of NATO in 1949. Danish Prime Minister Frederiksen clearly rejected Trump’s acquisition overture, stressing that “Greenland is not for sale,” but called for closer cooperation with Washington.
- The agreement gives the U.S. permanent military access, basing and overflight rights and would prevent China and Russia from establishing military bases on the island.
- Greenland stands along the busy northern route of North Atlantic civilian air traffic to Europe, forms part of the Greenland-Iceland-UK sea lane chokepoint blocking Russian submarine access into the wider Atlantic, and significantly borders seasonal maritime corridors through the Arctic Sea and Canada which cut merchant ship sailing times to East Asia.
Greenland offers a huge piece on the geopolitical chessboard; close cooperation with both Denmark and the Greenlandic community allows the United States to share a symbolic accord and an extraordinary opportunity on the Arctic doorstep.
John J. Metzler is a United Nations correspondent covering diplomatic and defense issues. He is the author of Divided Dynamism the Diplomacy of Separated Nations: Germany, Korea, China (2014). [See pre-2011 Archives]
