Trump backs off Greenland annexation, formalizes deal to expand US presence - USA Today
NEW YORK — President Donald Trump formalized a new security agreement with Greenland that expands the United States' military presence on the island, without it becoming an American territory, during a signing ceremony in New York on the sidelines of a visit to the United Nations.
Trump joined Danish Prime Minister Mette Frederiksen and Greenland Prime Minister Jens-Frederik Nielsen for a Tuesday morning signing of the agreement that the U.S. has promoted as a solution for Trump's desire to annex the independently-governed territory that's officially part of Denmark.
"We're going to have a tremendous relationship, a secure relationship. And we look forward to it," Trump said. "This was long in the making."
The leaders stressed that the deal benefits the U.S., Europe, and Greenland, whose prime minister said the agreement takes into account the people of the island. "Greenland matters, for North American security, and for transatlantic security, and this agreement reflects that we understand our responsibility, and act accordingly," Nielsen said.
The agreement should "put to rest any doubt today and in the future" about the island's loyalty, he added. "We are, have been, and will remain a steadfast friend of the United States, and a part of the western alliance. Your security is our security, and our security is your security."
Frederiksen said the U.S. has a friend in Demark, that has always kept its word, and an ally that it can rely on. "This day represents a milestone in our longstanding cooperation."
Trump said last week in a social media post that the deal "explicitly guarantees the United States the complete ability to do what it deems is necessary in Greenland in order to secure and defend the American continent," including permanent access, basing, and unrestricted use of the Arctic territory's airspace.
"We will immediately begin the process of developing a large Military presence in the appropriate part of Greenland, of which there are many. We will work with the people of Greenland in its development and construction," Trump wrote.
The deal also prohibits American adversaries from having a military presence on or making investments in Greenland without written approval. That includes Russia and China, a State Department official said. The deal has no end date, the official said, and will remain in effect if Greenland becomes an independent country.
"This deal permanently and completely addresses our national security concerns in Greenland," Secretary of State Marco Rubio said in a statement when the deal was announced.
The U.S. plans to re-establish a Cold War-era military base in Narsarsuaq, located in southern Greenland, where the population has dwindled to a few dozen people since the United States' closed its Bluie West One military base in the 1950s, and Mestersvig, a military outpost used by the Sirius Dog Sled Patrol, a Danish special forces unit, Reuters reported.
Greenland has a total population of roughly 57,000 people. Under a 1951 agreement with Denmark, the United States government has broad power to install and maintain military equipment, facilities and personnel on the island, the world's largest. The new agreement appears to expand that authority and restrict non-NATO countries' ability to station troops on the island.
Trump caused a diplomatic row with Denmark, a NATO ally, when he said in January that he could take Greenland the “easy way" or "the hard way,” a few days after the United States invaded Venezuela. He later said the U.S. had entered into a framework deal involving the island, without explaining what was in it.
Frederiksen said on Sept. 22 that the new agreement is "even bigger and better" than the previous one, and heralded it as a deal that "can last forever" and strengthen the common security of the NATO allaince.
"I think that everybody knows that we live in difficult times, where we have to show our strength, if we let ourselves be divided as allies, then we do our foes a favor. We will do everything we can to prevent that from happening," the Danish prime minister said.
