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US President Donald Trump announced on 18 September 2026 an agreement with the Kingdom of Denmark and Greenland giving the United States permanent rights of security, access, basing and overflight in Greenland.
The arrangement bars non-NATO states from establishing military bases on the island and commits the US to building a large military presence there.
Greenland is not transferred to the United States: the deal affirms Denmark's sovereignty and territorial integrity and Greenlanders' right to self-determination.
Danish Prime Minister Mette Frederiksen said it strengthens common security in the Arctic and North Atlantic; Secretary of State Marco Rubio said it meets Washington's security concerns.
The text has not been published. The three governments expect to sign it during the UN General Assembly, after which domestic ratification must follow.
Greenland lies between the Arctic Ocean and the North Atlantic, north-east of Canada and west of Iceland, straddling the shortest air and missile routes between North America and Europe. That position is why it carries weight for early-warning radar, space surveillance and Arctic sea lanes. Pituffik Space Base sits in the island's north-west, near Qaanaaq; the capital, Nuuk, is on the south-western coast.
Denmark is a founding member of the 1949 alliance; the new agreement bars states outside NATO from basing military forces in Greenland, effectively reserving the island for allied use
Intergovernmental forum of the eight Arctic states, established by the Ottawa Declaration of 1996; Denmark is a member through Greenland and the Faroe Islands, and the United States through Alaska. India has been an Observer since 2013.
Runs Greenland's internal affairs under the Self-Government Act of 2009, while Copenhagen retains foreign policy and defence
Denmark and the United States sign the Defense of Greenland Agreement, allowing a major US military presence
Greenland is granted Home Rule by Denmark
Greenland leaves the European Communities following a 1982 referendum - the only territory ever to do so
The Self-Government Act transfers control of internal affairs to Nuuk; Denmark keeps foreign policy and defence
Thule Air Base is renamed Pituffik Space Base
Jens-Frederik Nielsen becomes Premier of Greenland
Trump announces a permanent US security agreement covering Greenland, to be signed at the UN General Assembly
India released its Arctic Policy in 2022, has run the Himadri research station at Ny-Alesund in Svalbard, Norway since 2008, and has been an Observer at the Arctic Council since 2013 - so shifts in Arctic governance touch India's scientific and strategic interests.
Retreating sea ice is opening the Northern Sea Route and the Northwest Passage. Basing and overflight rights over Greenland therefore carry commercial and strategic weight well beyond conventional defence.
The deal's explicit reference to Greenlanders' right to self-determination invokes the UN Charter principle at the heart of decolonisation debates - the legal hook on which Greenland's own independence movement rests.
Greenland holds significant rare earth and critical mineral deposits, a strategic dimension that sits alongside the military logic of securing the island.
GS Paper II > International relations - bilateral and regional groupings; GS Paper I > World geography, Arctic region
General Awareness > Strategic affairs and military alliances
General Awareness > World geography and international current affairs
Danish law giving Greenland control over its internal legislative and executive affairs while Denmark retains foreign policy and defence.
The only US military base in Greenland, the northernmost US installation, renamed from Thule Air Base in 2023.
Forum of the eight Arctic states created by the Ottawa Declaration, 1996; secretariat at Tromso, Norway; India an Observer since 2013.
India's Arctic research station at Ny-Alesund, Svalbard, Norway, operating since 2008.