Denmark and the United States sign a security agreement to expand the US military presence in Greenland

Denmark's Permanent Representative to the United Nations, Christina Lassen, signed during the general debate of the 81st session of the United Nations General Assembly in New York that the agreement "benefits Greenland, Denmark, the United States, NATO, and Europe, as well as achieving international peace and security," adding: "Progress can still be achieved when we look in the right direction."

The three parties signed the agreement last Tuesday, on the sidelines of the United Nations General Assembly meetings.

The agreement allows the United States to significantly expand its military presence in Greenland.

US President Donald Trump announced that the agreement “gives Washington permanent control over Greenland’s security,” and that the Pentagon “will immediately begin strengthening its large-scale military presence and rehabilitating an abandoned American military base in Greenland.”

This agreement comes at a time when the Trump administration seeks to strengthen American influence in the Arctic region, which is gaining increasing strategic importance due to its vast reserves of natural resources and new maritime navigation routes resulting from melting ice.

According to the wording of the agreement, Greenland remains within the Kingdom of Denmark, while the United States receives long-term security and military arrangements, and the island is further closed to any military presence or sensitive investments by what Trump described as Washington’s opponents.

The agreement remains in effect even if autonomous Greenland, which is part of the Danish Kingdom, chooses independence from Denmark in the future.