Men raise the Greenlandic flag near a polling station in Nuuk, Greenland, on March 24, 2026, during the Danish parliamentary elections.
Florent Vergne | AFP | Getty Images
President Donald Trump on Friday announced agreements with Greenland and Denmark that give the United States “permanent control over the security and all other needs” of the Danish territories.
“We will immediately begin the process of building a large-scale military presence in appropriate areas of Greenland. There are many areas of Greenland,” President Trump said in a post on Truth Social.
Greenland already has a U.S. military presence under a decades-old defense agreement with Denmark.
The agreement mentioned in President Trump’s post appears to fall far short of his previous insistence that Greenland must become part of the United States.
The European Union (EU) has insisted that Greenland is not for sale, and earlier this year it united in condemning President Trump’s push to acquire the island.
But President Trump signaled Friday that he was satisfied with the new deal, claiming it addresses “all of America’s many concerns.”
“It costs America nothing,” he wrote.
Denmark’s Prime Minister’s Office announced in a press release late Friday that the three governments plan to sign the agreement at next week’s United Nations General Assembly.
Greenland’s Prime Minister Mette Frederiksen said in a statement included in the agreement that the agreement “strengthens our common security in the Arctic and North Atlantic regions and is therefore great for NATO and Europe.”
He added: “We recognize the sovereignty and territorial integrity of the Kingdom and the right to self-determination of the people of Greenland.”
Trump’s post included vague claims about the agreement, including that it guarantees the United States “will forever have the full ability to do what is necessary in Greenland to ensure and protect its security.”
Formal documentation of any agreement was not immediately available. The White House did not immediately respond to CNBC’s request for additional information about the agreement.
