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# US, Denmark and Greenland Sign Arctic Defence Pact
- URL: https://www.theoceaniacables.com/us-denmark-and-greenland-sign-arctic-defence-pact/
- Published: 2026-09-22T23:19:40.000Z
- Updated: 2026-09-22T23:19:40.000Z
- Description: Trump says it gives the US permanent control; the text amends the 1951 agreement, bars non-NATO bases and reaffirms Danish sovereignty.
- Author: The Oceania Cables
- Tags: United States, NATO, Arctic, Geopolitics, Diplomacy

## **Summary:**

President Donald Trump, Prime Minister Mette Frederiksen of Denmark and Prime Minister Jens-Frederik Nielsen of Greenland signed an agreement in New York on 22 September 2026 amending and supplementing the 27 April 1951 defence agreement between the United States and the Kingdom of Denmark on Greenland. The English text was published by the White House the same day.

Each leader framed the pact differently. Trump, at the General Assembly hours before the signing, said it gave the United States permanent control over security and all other needs on the territory, and that two very major military bases would be built. Frederiksen called it bigger than the 1951 instrument and "a deal that can last forever." Nielsen called it "a win-win-win agreement" and said it should put to rest any doubt about where Greenland's loyalty lies.

The text allows the United States to expand Pituffik Space Base and to establish additional defence areas at Narsarsuaq and Mestersvig, with further sites subject to a set consultation ladder. It bars non-NATO military installations and a persistent non-NATO military presence, and blocks states and investors from outside NATO, NATO partners and the European Union from control, significant influence or access to non-public information in sensitive sectors, unless all three parties agree otherwise. It has no end date, reaffirms Danish sovereignty and Greenland's right to self-determination, and enters into force only once the necessary parliamentary procedures are complete.

## **Detailed Report**

### **1\. Trump, Frederiksen and Nielsen Sign in New York**

The three governments signed the instrument at a trilateral ceremony in New York on 22 September, after Trump had [spoken to the General Assembly](https://www.theoceaniacables.com/trump-un-speech-threats-deals-and-a-rebuke-of-the-un/).

"We're going to have a tremendous relationship, a secure relationship," Trump said. The deal had been decades in the making, he said, and almost every president had at least mentioned it. 

> "Some really wanted to make a deal and never got done, but we're getting it done. So this is tremendous for Europe and for the United States and for everybody and for Greenland. It's going to be incredible."

Frederiksen opened with the alliance record. "Ever since the Second World War, the United States has defended the free world, created prosperity and progress, peace and freedom," she said. "And I am very proud to say that in the Kingdom of Denmark, the United States has a friend that has always kept our word, an ally you have always been able to rely on."

She tied the ceremony to the pact signed 75 years earlier.

> "75 years ago, we entered into an agreement about the defense of Greenland. Today, we are signing an even bigger and better agreement, a deal that can last forever. This deal is good for the United States. It's good for Greenland, for Denmark, for the NATO alliance, and therefore also good for Europe."

> "We are strengthening our common security, boosting our common deterrence, showing our adversaries who we are, and we are doing it together."

> "Mr. President, you have been very clear. You don't want adversaries to come too close. I fully agree. And with this deal, they are not. We are making sure that they will not be allowed to get any control or significant influence in Greenland and we are making sure that more allies are present in the Arctic."

She said the text recognised the United States' historical and ongoing contributions to the defence of Greenland and the North Atlantic Treaty area, "including, by the way, the sacrifices and billions of dollars spent," and the role the US military plays in the territory's defence now and in the future. It respected, she said, the sovereignty and territorial integrity of the Kingdom of Denmark as well as Greenland's right to self-determination. On burden-sharing, she sided with Trump's pressure on the Alliance: "I agree when you, Mr. President, have asked allies to pay our part of the burden. In fact, I think it's only fair. The Kingdom of Denmark has done exactly that."

Nielsen said the parties were bringing the 1951 defence agreement into 2026, building on 85 years of security cooperation in which Greenland had welcomed the US military. Greenland's territory, he said, had been indispensable from the Second World War through the Cold War and had supported US homeland security ever since.

> "A notable change is Greenland itself at the table today signing this agreement. And for Greenland, this is not only an agreement about us. It is an agreement with us. It takes into account the people of Greenland, our rights, our livelihoods, and the development of our country."

He said the security landscape in the Arctic was changing, and that Greenland recognised the long-term threats Trump had "rightly spoken about." Greenland mattered for North American security and for transatlantic security, he said, and NATO had a key role to play in the Arctic.

> "This agreement should put to rest any doubt today and in the future about where Greenland's loyalty lies. Our commitment to this alliance and to the security we build together is not in question. We are, have been and will remain a steadfast friend of the United States and a part of the Western Alliance. Your security is our security, and our security is your security."

He called the result a historic agreement about shared responsibility — "a secure America, a secure Greenland with mutual respect and a peaceful Arctic. This is a win-win-win agreement."

### **2\. The Treaty's Terms: Free Movement, Screened Investment and a NATO-Only Greenland**

The published text amends and supplements the 1951 Defence Agreement and the later instruments related to it, including the 2004 Igaliku Agreement. It says the parties may take the measures necessary or appropriate to defend the North Atlantic Treaty area, Greenland and the American continent, while respecting Greenlandic interests. It supports stronger NATO engagement in the Arctic — planning, presence, exercises and joint intelligence gathering. The preamble records a shared interest in US military access "including through establishment of a Golden Dome defense system."

On basing, the United States is allowed to modernise and expand its activities at Pituffik Space Base, and to establish an additional defence area at Narsarsuaq and Mestersvig, with the modalities and technical details still to be mutually agreed. In the General Assembly speech that morning, Trump had said the United States would immediately begin developing a large military presence and would be building "two very major military bases." Further defence areas may also be established: either party may propose a site, and if the Permanent Committee cannot agree within 90 days, consultations escalate to deputy-minister and then minister level. Contracts for building, maintaining and servicing defence areas are to go to Greenlandic sources "to the maximum extent possible."

On movement, US public vessels and aircraft, armed forces and vehicles are given free access between defence areas by land, air and sea, including through the territorial waters. US aircraft may fly over and land anywhere in Greenland, and US public vessels may have undersea access to and movement within the territorial waters, "without restriction except as mutually agreed upon by the Parties." Those rights are to be exercised in a way that respects Greenlandic society and the Greenlandic way of life, including hunting and fishing, to the maximum extent possible.

On third states, no country outside NATO may establish manned or unmanned military installations in Greenland, or keep a persistent military presence there, unless the parties agree otherwise.

On investment, states or investors from a country that is not a NATO member, a NATO partner or an EU member state are barred from control, significant influence, or access to non-public information that may threaten national security or public order in particularly sensitive sectors — defined to include critical infrastructure and the extraction of resources — unless the parties agree the activity poses no such threat. The bar is to be enforced by Greenland, in close cooperation with the Danish authorities, through its investment-screening laws; Danish authorities are to consult closely with their US counterparts.

On duration, the agreement has no end date and may be amended only by mutual consent under the 1951 amendment rule. If Greenland becomes independent under the Self-Government Act of 2009, Denmark and Greenland "shall together ensure" that the independent state agrees to remain in NATO — applying for membership if necessary — and assumes, from the date of independence, all of Denmark's rights and obligations under this agreement and the earlier defence arrangements.

### **3\. From Igaliku to New York: How the Greenland Defence Framework Expanded**

The 27 April 1951 agreement, concluded pursuant to the North Atlantic Treaty, replaced the wartime 1941 defence arrangement and gave the United States specified rights to operate in defence areas on Greenland. It remained the legal base for Thule Air Base, later Pituffik Space Base, and for a wider Cold War footprint that was later drawn down. Its life was tied to the North Atlantic Treaty.

The Igaliku Agreement of 6 August 2004 amended that pact and brought Greenland's Home Rule government into the text. It stated that Thule Air Base was then the only defence area in Greenland, while leaving in place the 1951 procedure for creating new ones. It confirmed that the NATO Status of Forces Agreement applied, and it set consultation arrangements. It did not write an independence clause, an explicit ban on non-NATO bases, or a screening rule for sensitive investment. Missile defence at Thule was handled in parallel political understandings around the same time; it was not framed in the 2004 text as a continent-wide Golden Dome.

The 2026 instrument keeps 1951 and 2004 alive and writes into the treaty what those texts left open. The US footprint is no longer described as Thule alone: an additional defence area is authorised at Narsarsuaq and Mestersvig, and further areas may be created through the consultation ladder. Non-NATO bases and a persistent non-NATO military presence are prohibited unless all three parties agree. Sensitive investment from outside NATO, NATO partners and the EU is screened — by Greenland, with Denmark. The pact is stated to have no end date, and an independent Greenland is to stay in NATO and assume the bargain. Danish sovereignty and Greenlandic self-determination are recited in the preamble.

Trump had said during the past year that he wanted the United States to own the island. The signed text reaffirms Danish sovereignty and Greenlandic self-determination, and it transfers no title.

### **4\. Still to Come: Parliamentary Approval, Site Details and the Two Promised Bases**

The signatures in New York are not the last legal act. The agreement enters into force only on the date of a diplomatic note informing the United States that the Kingdom of Denmark, together with Greenland, has completed the necessary parliamentary procedures.

Modalities for Narsarsuaq and Mestersvig still have to be agreed. Any further defence area has to climb the 90-day consultation ladder. Greenlandic contracting is a commitment "to the maximum extent possible," not a quota. Golden Dome is named in the preamble as a purpose of access, not as a built system. The two major bases Trump described to the General Assembly remain a presidential statement until sites and budgets are fixed under the new defence-area rules.

### **Conclusion**

The three governments wrote an open-ended American military position on Greenland into a treaty that reaffirms Danish sovereignty and Greenlandic self-determination. The text transfers no ownership, and it is not yet in force: that waits on the parliaments in Copenhagen and Nuuk, and on the diplomatic note that follows.