Denmark and Greenland Thwart Trump's Annexation Ambitions with Trilateral Security Pact

[Financial News] U.S. President Donald Trump, who had claimed since last year that he would take over Greenland, a Danish territory, has signed an agreement to expand the U.S. military presence on the island. Denmark and Greenland reacted with relief at having thwarted Trump, who had threatened to seize the island.
According to foreign media outlets including the BBC, Trump signed a trilateral security agreement with Danish Prime Minister Mette Frederiksen and Greenlandic Prime Minister Jens-Frederik Nielsen at the UN headquarters in New York on the 22nd local time. Under the agreement, the United States will build two large military bases in Greenland and substantially increase the number of troops stationed there.
Trump explained that the agreement "gives the United States permanent control over the security of that territory (Greenland) and all other needs." He said, "We will immediately begin the process of establishing large-scale military bases in appropriate locations," and announced plans to build two military bases in Greenland.
He added, "No hostile force of the United States will be allowed in the future to establish a military presence in Greenland or make sensitive investments there without our explicit written approval."
During the Cold War, the United States operated 17 military installations in Greenland, a strategic location in the Arctic, and stationed more than 10,000 troops there. In 1951, Denmark signed an agreement with the United States authorizing it to deploy as many troops to Greenland as it wished.
The only U.S. military facility remaining in Greenland is Pituffik Space Base, where about 150 soldiers are stationed. Since late 2024, Trump has cited Russia and China's advances into the Arctic Ocean, as well as natural resources, to argue that the United States must control Greenland. In January, he threatened to use force to annex the island.
The United States plans to first reactivate a former military base in Narsarsuaq, southern Greenland. A U.S. military base called Bluie West One operated in Narsarsuaq until the 1950s, during the early Cold War. The United States also plans to establish a military outpost in Mestersvig, eastern Greenland.
After signing the agreement on the 22nd, Nielsen called it "a 'win-win-win' agreement that benefits everyone." He stressed, "Your security is our security, and our security is your security." Having faced Trump's threats to annex Greenland, he said, "We can now set down the burden we have been carrying on our shoulders." On the same day, Frederiksen said, "The Kingdom of Denmark is now in a better position than it was yesterday." She described the agreement as "an agreement that can last forever" and explained that it was beneficial not only to the United States, Greenland and Denmark, but also to all North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) allies. At the end of her press conference, Frederiksen said, "I think I should go have a cold beer." Also that day, NATO Secretary General Mark Rutte welcomed the agreement on social media platform X, writing, "The new agreement will strengthen collective security." He added that "strengthening security in the Arctic and North Atlantic regions is essential for both Europe and North America."
Meanwhile, at a press conference that day, Frederiksen was asked whether Greenland and Denmark would participate in the Golden Dome missile defense system unveiled by the United States last year. When asked whether defense by the Golden Dome missile defense system was included in the agreement, she explained, "Nothing has yet been decided on the final form of the Golden Dome missile defense system."

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