The recent US-Greenland-Denmark agreement strengthens Greenland’s sovereignty but excludes mining and drilling rights.
Published October 14, 2026
Denmark has demanded that U.S. resource exploration in Greenland respect the island’s laws, as President Donald Trump insists oil, gas and mineral extraction will soon begin in Greenland.
Denmark’s Foreign Ministry reaffirmed on Wednesday that last month’s agreement signed between Denmark, Greenland and the United States does not change rules on extraction.
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The ministry said the agreement “does not give any preferential treatment to investors from the United States” over investors from other NATO or EU countries when it comes to accessing Greenland’s natural resources.
In a post on Truth Social, US President Donald Trump referred to Denmark’s semi-autonomous territory as “our new and beautiful Greenland.”
“We are poised to begin extensive oil, gas and mineral exploration,” he wrote, without providing details.
Contents of the contract
President Trump, Danish Prime Minister Mette Frederiksen, and Greenlandic Prime Minister Jens Frederik Nielsen signed a 10-page agreement on the sidelines of the United Nations General Assembly in New York on September 22, ending months of tension over President Trump’s threat to take control of Greenland.
The agreement will allow the United States to “modernize and expand” operations at Pitufik Space Station, a remote U.S. military facility in northwestern Greenland.
It also reaffirmed Danish sovereignty and the Greenlanders’ right to self-determination, while also paving the way for two new military bases and President Trump’s Golden Dome missile defense system.
It did not assign any rights for mining or drilling.
greenland ban
Greenland banned all uranium mining and future oil exploration in 2021.
The government is considering whether Texas company Greenland Energy can use permits from before the ban.
The company announced in August that it planned to drill for oil in an unexplored basin on Greenland’s east coast in 2027, although it did not have its own permits.
Danish security policy adviser Jacob Kaasbo said President Trump’s comments could indicate that his desire to control Greenland remains unchanged.
“It would be extremely dangerous to view this agreement between the Trump administration and Denmark as a change in President Trump’s intentions,” he said.
Mikkel Olesen, a senior researcher at the Danish Institute of International Affairs, told Al Jazeera that details regarding mining and exploration rights remain unclear and that information, mainly from the US side, should be taken with a “discount”.
Richard Weitz, a research fellow at the NATO National Defense University in Rome, said that although Trump “stepped back and settled for less than he asked for,” he still “got almost everything he wanted except formal annexation.”
