🇩🇰🇬🇱🇺🇸 I just read the new Greenland agreement; it is a Danish negotiating masterclass.
The US gets a lot:
• Two new defence areas.
• An expanded Pituffik.
• US military aircraft may overfly and land anywhere in Greenland.
• US vessels receive subsurface access to Greenlandic territorial waters.
• Additional US defence areas can be established in the future.
• Extensive military access across Greenland and provisions supporting Golden Dome.
• Sensitive foreign investment - including in critical infrastructure and resources - will face security screening
But look at what Denmark and Greenland secured in return:
• Danish sovereignty and Greenlandic self-determination are explicitly reaffirmed
• Further US defence areas require mutual agreement - Washington cannot simply establish them unilaterally.
• The agreement explicitly calls for stronger NATO involvement in the Arctic, including presence, exercises, planning and joint intelligence.
• Greenlandic companies should receive defence-related contracts wherever possible.
• Greenlandic society, traditional activities and environmental protection are explicitly built into the framework.
• Even in a future independence scenario, the agreement treats Greenland as a prospective sovereign NATO state rather than transferring sovereignty to the US.
Trump gets the expanded American military footprint and Golden Dome access he wanted.
Denmark and Greenland retain sovereignty while anchoring the future security of the island much more firmly in a multilateral NATO framework.
Whatever you think of the agreement politically, that is a fascinating negotiating outcome.