Denmark pushes back as Trump touts Greenland oil and mineral deals

Recent US-Greenland-Denmark agreement excludes mining or drilling rights while reinforcing Greenland’s sovereignty.

Al JazeeraAl Jazeera Staff2026-10-14 23:03查看原文 ↗

Recent US-Greenland-Denmark agreement excludes mining or drilling rights while reinforcing Greenland’s sovereignty.

US President Donald Trump attends the signing ceremony between the United States, Denmark, and Greenland at the UN Headquarters in New York, September 22, 2026 [Mads Claus Rasmussen/EPA]

Denmark has demanded that US resource exploration in Greenland respect the island’s laws amid President Donald Trump’s claim that oil, gas and mineral extraction will soon begin there.

The Danish Foreign Ministry reaffirmed on Wednesday that last month’s agreement between Denmark, Greenland and the US did not alter the rules for extraction.

list 1 of 3 Why does Greenland matter to the US?

list 2 of 3 Greenland’s delegation gets hero’s welcome after signing US-Denmark pact

list 3 of 3 Trump says oil, gas and mineral exploration to begin in Greenland

The agreement “does not grant investors from the US any preferential treatment” over investors from other NATO and EU countries when it comes to access to natural resources in Greenland, the ministry said.

In a post on Truth Social, US President Trump called the semi-autonomous Danish territory “our new and beautiful Greenland”.

“Massive Oil, Gas, and Mineral Exploration is getting ready to begin,” he wrote , without providing details.

What the deal covers

Trump, Danish Prime Minister Mette Frederiksen and Greenland’s Prime Minister Jens-Frederik Nielsen signed the 10-page agreement on the sidelines of the United Nations General Assembly in New York on September 22, ending months of tensions over Trump’s threats to control Greenland .

The deal allows the US to “modernise and expand” its activities at the Pituffik Space Base, a remote US military installation in northwest Greenland.

It also paved the way for two new military bases and Trump’s “Golden Dome” missile defence system, while reaffirming Danish sovereignty and Greenlanders’ right to self-determination.

It did not allocate any rights for mining or drilling.

Greenland banned uranium mining and all future oil exploration in 2021.

Its government is reviewing whether a Texas firm, Greenland Energy, can use permits that predate the ban.

The company said in August it planned to drill for oil in 2027 at an untested basin on Greenland’s east coast, although it lacked its own permit.

Danish security policy adviser Jacob Kaarsbo said Trump’s comments could signal that his desire to control Greenland remains unchanged.

“It is extremely dangerous to view this agreement between the Trump administration and Denmark as something that has altered Trump’s intentions,” he said.

Mikkel Olesen, a senior researcher at the Danish Institute for International Studies, told Al Jazeera that details regarding mining and exploration rights remained unclear and that information coming mostly from the US side should be taken “with a grain of salt”.

Richard Weitz, a fellow at the NATO Defense College in Rome, said Trump “backed down and settled for less” than he sought, but still “got pretty much everything he wanted, except formal annexation”.

美国、格陵兰和丹麦最近达成的协议排除了采矿或钻探权，同时加强了格陵兰的主权。

2026年9月22日，美国总统唐纳德·特朗普在纽约联合国总部出席美国、丹麦和格陵兰三国签署协议的仪式。[Mads Claus Rasmussen/EPA]

丹麦要求美国在格陵兰岛进行资源勘探时尊重该岛的法律，此前美国总统唐纳德·特朗普声称，石油、天然气和矿产开采很快将在格陵兰岛开始。

丹麦外交部周三重申，上个月丹麦、格陵兰和美国达成的协议并未改变开采规则。

列表 1/3：格陵兰岛对美国为何如此重要？

格陵兰代表团签署美丹协议后受到英雄般的欢迎（共3项，此为第2项）

特朗普称格陵兰岛将开始石油、天然气和矿产勘探（共3条，此为第3条）

该部表示，该协议“并未给予美国投资者在获取格陵兰岛自然资源方面比来自其他北约和欧盟国家的投资者任何优惠待遇”。

美国总统特朗普在 Truth Social 上发帖称丹麦半自治领土格陵兰岛为“我们美丽崭新的格陵兰岛”。

他写道：“大规模的石油、天然气和矿产勘探即将开始”，但没有提供细节。

该协议涵盖的内容

9月22日，特朗普、丹麦首相梅特·弗雷德里克森和格陵兰首相延斯-弗雷德里克·尼尔森在纽约联合国大会期间签署了这份10页的协议，结束了数月来因特朗普威胁控制格陵兰而导致的紧张局势。