U.S., Denmark and Greenland strike security pact: key details

WASHINGTON, 30 SEPTEMBER 2026 —

After nearly two years of escalating rhetoric from Washington, the United States, Denmark, and Greenland signed a trilateral security agreement in September 2026 that allows for a greater U.S.

Trump’s repeated remarks about assuming control over Greenland—an interest that dates back to his first term—had been met with sharp pushback, with Greenland’s government rejecting a U.S. takeover under “ any circumstances .” NATO allies also warned that the use of U.S. military force to seize Greenland could threaten the decades-old transatlantic alliance. Trump’s rhetoric prompted Denmark to increase its military presence in and around Greenland, alongside several other European countries. U.S.

forces currently operate a military base on Greenland, and the United States and Denmark are NATO allies with a long-running bilateral defense partnership that includes shared patrols around Greenland. The new agreement expands that partnership, allowing the United States greater access to the island and its territorial waters in what experts say strengthens security in the Arctic.

The deal amends a 1951 U.S.-Denmark defense pact that initially allowed the United States to build and operate military bases in Greenland.

As part of the new agreement , which has no set end date, the United States can: Trump said on social media that the deal gives the United States “permanent control over security, and all other needs, in Greenland,” though the island maintains its right to self-determination, as well as full ownership over its natural resources.

The agreement also allows the United States to deploy the proposed “Golden Dome” missile defense system in Greenland, bars non-NATO states from establishing military installations on the island, and restricts foreign investment to NATO, NATO partners, and European Union (EU) members only. Greenland has been considered a Danish territory for more than three hundred years, but it wasn’t until 1979 that Denmark granted the sparsely populated island home rule.

In 2009, Denmark passed the Act on Greenland Self-Government [PDF], significantly expanding the island’s authority over its domestic affairs, including the police, courts, and coast guard. Denmark still maintains control over Greenland’s foreign affairs, defense policy, and monetary policy, providing an annual subsidy of approximately $600 million. As part of Denmark, which is a founding member of NATO, Greenland is covered under the transatlantic alliance’s security guarantees.

However, Greenland is not a member of the EU or the European Single Market, despite being considered an overseas country and territory associated with the EU. Greenland’s roughly fifty-seven thousand citizens, the majority Indigenous Inuit, are EU citizens as well as Danish nationals. In recent years, Greenland has witnessed a growing independence movement. Under the self-government act, the island can gain independence via a referendum with approval from the Danish Parliament.

In 2023, Greenland unveiled its first draft constitution , calling for the creation of a Greenlandic republic, independence from Denmark, and recognition of the island’s Inuit heritage. In March 2025, Greenland’s center-right Demokraatit party—which advocates for a gradual approach to independence— won the island’s parliamentary election , and its leader, Jens-Frederik Nielsen, became prime minister. Trump has repeatedly said that acquiring or controlling Greenland is critical to U.S. national security.

Greenland’s location between Europe and North America and its proximity to the Arctic and North Atlantic Oceans makes it strategically important for military and defense purposes—particularly in monitoring increasing Chinese and Russian activity in the region.

“Greenland is growing in importance as we find ourselves in a global competition with China and in a new technological revolution with regards to warfare,” Rebecca Pincus, director of the Wilson Center’s Polar Institute, told Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty in 2025. “So, Greenland is important from a missile-defense perspective, from a space perspective, and from a global competition perspective.” There are also economic incentives.

Rising temperatures associated with climate change are making Greenland’s rare earth metals such as lithium, a critical mineral for electric vehicles and batteries, more accessible. A 2023 report by the Danish government detailed Greenland’s potential as a deposit of critical raw materials, many of which are used in the green energy transition.

(The United States currently relies heavily on China for rare earth minerals.) Greenland is also believed to possess enormous untapped oil and gas reserves; a 2008 estimate by the U.S. Geological Survey put the amount at approximately thirty-one billion barrels of oil equivalent—the amount of energy contained in one barrel of crude oil—though the island banned all oil and gas exploration in 2021 over environmental concerns.

Under the new trilateral security agreement, foreign investment in “particularly sensitive sectors or activities”—including resource extraction—that comes from outside NATO, NATO partners, or the EU is restricted. Meanwhile, Greenland’s ice sheet, which covers roughly 80 percent of the island, is experiencing accelerating melting, making Arctic trade routes more navigable; these include the Northeast and Northwest Passages.

Greater availability could open up shorter and faster trade routes between Asia, Europe, and North America, positioning Greenland as an international maritime hub. Trump’s push to acquire Greenland echoed other territorial aims he expressed at the start of his second term, including regaining control of the Panama Canal —which the United States officially turned over to Panama in 1999—and making Canada the fifty-first U.S. state.

The United States could have legally acquired Greenland with the consent of the Danish government and Greenland’s self-ruling parliament, as it did when it bought Alaska from Russia in 1867. Some experts suggested Washington could also have pursued a Compact of Free Association with Greenland, establishing a relationship where the territory is self-governing but still closely tied to the United States for economic assistance and defense.

The United States has several of these treaties already in place, including ones with Micronesia, the Marshall Islands, and Palau. However, such a deal would still require approval from both the Greenlandic and Danish governments. Both Greenlandic and Danish leaders have rejected U.S.