On September 22, President Trump signed an unprecedented security agreement with the leaders of Denmark and Greenland guaranteeing U.S. security interests in Greenland, at no cost to American taxpayers.
“I am pleased to announce that the United States of America has entered into an Agreement… that gives the United States permanent control over security, and all other needs, in Greenland,” President Trump said announcing the deal. “There will be NO COST to the United States!”
The agreement includes permanent basing rights, and bars any U.S. adversary from establishing a base, military presence, or sensitive investment in Greenland without American approval. Video of the signing is available at the White House.
Greenland is strategically vital to the United States, the President said in his address to the United Nations General Assembly. With this agreement, the United States will have the complete ability to do what is necessary to defend the American continent.
“Your security is our security and our security is your security,” Prime Minister of Greenland Jens-Frederik Nielsen said at the signing. “This agreement is historical.”
The day before the signing, Secretary of State Rubio met in New York with the Foreign Ministers of Canada, Denmark, the Faroe Islands, Finland, Greenland, Iceland, Norway, and Sweden. The allies agreed that Arctic security requires continued investment to safeguard the region and deter strategic competitors.
The agreement settles long-standing American security concerns, and now protects America “in perpetuity,” Secretary Rubio said in an interview with Sean Hannity.
“If missiles were ever launched at the U.S., they would come over the Arctic Circle and over the Arctic region,” Secretary Rubio said in an interview with WABC Radio, “having that presence there will be the first line of defense against that.”
Under the agreement, any non-NATO country that wants to make sensitive investments in Greenland must go through screening process. With this agreement, “Greenland will forever be part of the strategic defense area of North America and exclude any adversary from it and the surrounding area,” Secretary Rubio said on X.
“You’re not going to wake up one day and realize… the Chinese military is not there but their companies own all the ports, Secretary Rubio explained in an interview with Fox News.
The agreement expands the 1951 defense agreement between the United States and Denmark, which has been the basis for 75 years of security cooperation.
“We are strengthening our common security, boosting our common deterrence, showing our adversaries who we are, and we are doing it together,” Danish Prime Minister Mette Frederiksen said at the signing.
“This is tremendous for Europe and for the United States, and for everybody,” President Trump said.
