US President Donald Trump said on Friday that Washington had reached an agreement with Denmark and Greenland granting the United States “permanent control” over the Arctic territory’s security.
In a social media post, Trump called it an “Infinite Life” agreement, meaning “it never ends”. He said no US adversary could establish a base, maintain a military presence, or make “sensitive investments” in Greenland without express written US approval.
Denmark said the deal is expected to be signed during the United Nations General Assembly meeting in New York next week. Copenhagen stressed that it retains sovereignty over Greenland, and the agreement must still be ratified by the Danish and Greenland parliaments.
The announcement comes more than a year after Trump threatened to seize control of the self-governing territory, which is part of Denmark and NATO. A January 2025 poll found 85 percent of Greenland’s 56,000 residents opposed becoming part of the US.
The official text has not been released. A US State Department official cited by the BBC said the deal bars non-NATO states from setting up bases in Greenland and blocks investments “that could threaten the United States”, with screening mechanisms targeting China and Russia.
Mikkel Olesen, a senior researcher at the Danish Institute for International Studies, told Al Jazeera the restrictions were unlikely to amount to a major concession because “the Danes and Greenlanders never wished for Russia or China to have bases in Greenland.” He said details remain unclear and available information should be taken “with a grain of salt” as most has come from the US side.
The agreement falls short of Trump’s earlier stated goal of US “ownership” of the island. Greenland’s Prime Minister Jens-Frederik Nielsen said it “recognises Greenland’s interests” and is “to the benefit of us all”. Danish Prime Minister Mette Frederiksen said it is “great for NATO and Europe” and “recognises the sovereignty and territorial integrity of the Kingdom and the Greenlandic people’s right to self-determination”.
Under a 1951 treaty, the US already holds broad overflight and basing rights on the island, and operates the Pituffik Space Base in the northwest with more than 100 personnel stationed there.
Chinese analysts linked the timing of the announcement to a state visit by President Xi Jinping to Washington next week and to US midterm elections in November. Wang Yiwei, director of the Institute of International Affairs at Renmin University of China, said the move was aimed at strengthening US bargaining position at the summit. He argued that framing it as blocking Chinese or Russian influence was a pretext, noting China has virtually no footprint in Greenland and that past mining and airport investment plans there had repeatedly fallen through.