Trump says US has ‘permanent control’ of Greenland security: Does it?

New agreement with Denmark falls short of Trump’s previously stated goal of US ‘ownership’ of the island.

Residential apartment buildings stand among snow in Nuuk, Greenland, January 25 [Sean Gallup/Getty Images]

United States President Donald Trump claims the US has reached a deal with Denmark granting it “permanent control” over Greenland’s security “and all other needs”.

The announcement comes more than a year after the US president threatened to seize the self-governing Arctic territory, which is part of Denmark. Those threats roiled the NATO security alliance that Washington and Copenhagen are part of.

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According to Denmark, the deal is expected to be signed during next week’s United Nations General Assembly meeting in New York. Copenhagen has stressed that it retains sovereignty over Greenland, and this deal will still need to be ratified in the Danish and Greenland parliaments.

Here’s what we know about the deal and what it could mean for the US and Greenland:

The official text has yet to be released. But according to Trump, the deal gives the US permanent control over Greenland’s security and “all other needs”, at no cost to the US.

The deal bars US adversaries from establishing a military presence or making “sensitive investments” in Greenland without US approval, said Trump.

A US Department of State official cited by the BBC said the deal will mean non-NATO states won’t be able to set up bases in Greenland and will be barred from “making investments in Greenland that could threaten the United States”.

The official said that means China and Russia won’t be able to build bases or send troops to Greenland, and that those states would be blocked from investing “in sensitive sectors”.

However, Mikkel Olesen, a senior researcher at the Danish Institute for International Studies, told Al Jazeera that it is unlikely to be a major concession because “the Danes and Greenlanders never wished for Russia or China to have bases in Greenland.”

However, it is unclear whether other countries could similarly be labelled “adversaries” to the US in the future, subjecting them to these restrictions.

Trump called the deal an “‘Infinite Life’ Agreement”, meaning “it never ends”.

The State Department official also said the agreement gives the US the right to build more military sites on the island without Greenland or Denmark approving. According to the official, the deal would remain in force even if Greenland were to become an independent state in the future.

There was no specific mention of potential US mining rights in Greenland, which has a rich deposit of rare-earth minerals , including zinc, iron, uranium and graphite, that are likely to interest Trump. These minerals are highly sought after and are used in the manufacture of hundreds of technological products, from smartphones to fighter jets.

However, some observers think this could be what Trump means by his mention of “sensitive investments”.

The US president has sought to expand the US’s global access to rare-earth metals, especially as China, a global leader in the technology, AI and renewables industries with 60 percent of the world’s known deposits of these minerals in its territory, restricts their exports .

What have Greenland and Denmark said?

Greenland and Denmark acknowledged the deal on Friday, but neither gave specific details about its terms. They said the agreement would be announced next week.

Greenland’s Prime Minister Jens-Frederik Nielsen said it “recognises Greenland’s interests” and is “to the benefit of us all”.

Denmark’s Prime Minister Mette Frederiksen said it is “great for NATO and Europe”, as it “strengthens our common security in the Arctic and the North Atlantic Area”.

Olesen stressed that details of the deal remain unclear and that available information should be taken “with a grain of salt” as most of it has so far come from the US side.

Does the deal give the US ownership of Greenland?

No, it does not meet Trump’s previously stated objective of “ownership”.

Denmark’s Frederiksen said the agreement “recognises the sovereignty and territorial integrity of the Kingdom and the Greenlandic people’s right to self-determination”.

Olesen said the deal could be positive for Greenland and Denmark as it “has the potential to end the crisis” caused by Trump’s insistence on acquiring Greenland last year, without sacrificing sovereignty.

Trump’s earlier threats to seize control of Greenland were met with high resistance on the island of 56,000 people. A January 2025 poll found that 85 percent of Greenlanders opposed becoming part of the US.

People protest against Trump’s policy towards Greenland in front of the US Consulate in Nuuk, Greenland, January 17 [Evgeniy Maloletka/AP Photo]

What military rights does the US already have in Greenland?

A substantial number. Under a 1951 treaty, the US has broad overflight and basing rights on the island.

In addition to giving the US the right to build bases and maintain personnel, the treaty also stipulates that the US can “control landings, takeoffs, anchorages, moorings, movements, and operation of ships, aircraft, and waterborne craft”.

As part of the treaty, the US currently operates a Space Force base in a remote part of northwestern Greenland – the Pituffik Space Base. It has more than 100 personnel stationed there.

What would actually change under this new agreement?

That largely remains to be seen. Trump said the US will “immediately” begin building up a large military presence on Greenland. However, the US already had the right to build bases and send personnel there under the 1951 treaty.

Imran Bayoumi, a former Pentagon official, told the Reuters news agency that it would be new if the US could now build bases unilaterally, but “it seems that Washington could have achieved a lot of these ⁠objectives through diplomacy and dialogue without straining the broader US-NATO relationship.”

Trump has also said the US will support Greenlanders with “development and construction”, without elaborating.

Richard Weitz, a fellow at the NATO Defense College, told Al Jazeera the deal “defuses perhaps one of the most severe sources of internal tension” within NATO.

While Trump “backed down and settled for less” than he sought with respect to Greenland, he still “got pretty much everything he wanted, except formal annexation”, added Weitz.

与丹麦达成的新协议未能实现特朗普此前提出的美国“拥有”该岛的目标。

1月25日，格陵兰岛努克，住宅公寓楼矗立在白雪之中。[Sean Gallup/Getty Images]

美国总统唐纳德·特朗普声称，美国已与丹麦达成协议，赋予丹麦对格陵兰岛安全“及其他一切需求”的“永久控制权”。

这项声明发布于美国总统威胁要吞并丹麦属地——这个拥有自治权的北极地区——一年多之后。这些威胁曾令华盛顿和哥本哈根同属北约的安全联盟陷入动荡。

欧盟承诺向格陵兰岛提供超过2亿美元的援助，以应对特朗普吞并威胁（共3项，此为第1项）

美国宣布向澳大利亚稀土矿投资4亿美元（共3条记录，此为第2条）

格陵兰岛海岸附近发生的三起巨型冰山倾覆事件中的第三起

据丹麦方面称，该协议预计将于下周在纽约举行的联合国大会期间签署。哥本哈根方面强调，丹麦保留对格陵兰岛的主权，该协议仍需丹麦和格陵兰议会批准。

以下是我们对这项协议的了解，以及它可能对美国和格陵兰岛产生的影响：

正式文本尚未公布。但据特朗普称，该协议赋予美国永久控制格陵兰岛安全及“所有其他需求”的权利，而美国无需为此付出任何代价。

特朗普表示，该协议禁止美国的对手在未经美国批准的情况下在格陵兰岛建立军事存在或进行“敏感投资”。

据英国广播公司报道，一位美国国务院官员表示，该协议意味着非北约国家将无法在格陵兰岛设立军事基地，并且将被禁止“在格陵兰岛进行可能威胁美国的投资”。

该官员表示，这意味着中国和俄罗斯将无法在格陵兰岛建立基地或向其派遣军队，并且这些国家将被禁止在“敏感领域”进行投资。

然而，丹麦国际问题研究所高级研究员米克尔·奥勒森告诉半岛电视台，这不太可能是一项重大让步，因为“丹麦人和格陵兰人从来不希望俄罗斯或中国在格陵兰拥有军事基地”。

然而，目前尚不清楚未来其他国家是否也会被贴上美国“敌对国家”的标签，从而受到这些限制。

特朗普称该协议为“无限期协议”，意思是“永不结束”。

美国国务院官员还表示，该协议赋予美国在未经格陵兰或丹麦批准的情况下，在岛上修建更多军事设施的权利。据该官员称，即使格陵兰未来成为独立国家，该协议仍然有效。

报告中并未具体提及美国在格陵兰岛的潜在采矿权。格陵兰岛蕴藏着丰富的稀土矿藏，包括锌、铁、铀和石墨，这些矿藏很可能引起特朗普的兴趣。这些矿产资源需求量巨大，被用于制造数百种科技产品，从智能手机到战斗机，无所不包。

然而，一些观察人士认为，这可能就是特朗普所说的“敏感投资”的含义。

美国总统一直寻求扩大美国在全球范围内获取稀土金属的渠道，尤其是在中国——全球科技、人工智能和可再生能源行业的领导者，其境内拥有全球已知稀土矿藏的 60%——限制其出口的情况下。

格陵兰和丹麦方面怎么说？

格陵兰和丹麦周五承认了这项协议，但双方均未透露具体条款。他们表示，协议将于下周正式公布。

格陵兰总理延斯-弗雷德里克·尼尔森表示，这“承认了格陵兰的利益”，并且“对我们所有人都有好处”。

丹麦首相梅特·弗雷德里克森表示，这对北约和欧洲来说“意义重大”，因为它“加强了我们在北极和北大西洋地区的共同安全”。

奥勒森强调，该交易的细节仍不清楚，而且由于目前大部分信息都来自美方，因此对现有信息应“持保留态度”。

该协议是否赋予美国格陵兰岛的所有权？

不，这不符合特朗普此前提出的“所有权”目标。

丹麦总理弗雷德里克森表示，该协议“承认格陵兰王国的主权和领土完整，以及格陵兰人民的自决权”。

奥勒森表示，这项协议对格陵兰和丹麦来说可能是积极的，因为它“有可能结束”特朗普去年坚持收购格陵兰所造成的危机，而不会牺牲主权。

特朗普早前威胁要控制格陵兰岛，这一举动在这个拥有5.6万人口的岛屿上遭到了强烈抵制。2025年1月的一项民意调查显示，85%的格陵兰岛居民反对成为美国的一部分。

1月17日，人们在格陵兰岛努克的美国领事馆前抗议特朗普对格陵兰岛的政策。[Evgeniy Maloletka/AP Photo]

美国在格陵兰岛已经拥有哪些军事权利？

数量相当可观。根据1951年的一项条约，美国在该岛上拥有广泛的飞越权和基地使用权。

除了赋予美国建立基地和维持人员的权利外，该条约还规定美国可以“控制船舶、飞机和水上交通工具的起降、锚地、系泊、移动和操作”。

根据该条约，美国目前在格陵兰岛西北部偏远地区运营着一个太空部队基地——皮图菲克太空基地。该基地驻扎着100多名人员。

根据这项新协议，究竟会发生哪些变化？

这一点很大程度上还有待观察。特朗普表示，美国将“立即”开始在格陵兰岛建立大规模军事存在。然而，根据1951年的条约，美国本来就有权在那里建立军事基地并派遣人员。

前五角大楼官员伊姆兰·巴尤米告诉路透社，如果美国现在可以单方面建立军事基地，那将是前所未有的，但“华盛顿似乎可以通过外交和对话实现许多这样的目标，而不会给更广泛的美北约关系带来压力。”

特朗普还表示，美国将通过“发展和建设”来支持格陵兰人，但没有详细说明。

北约国防学院研究员理查德·韦茨告诉半岛电视台，这项协议“或许缓解了北约内部最严重的紧张局势之一”。

韦茨补充说，虽然特朗普在格陵兰问题上“退让并接受了比他所要求的更少的东西”，但他仍然“几乎得到了他想要的一切，除了正式吞并”。