At 5:18 p.m. on September 18, 2026, Trump posted that the deal was done. “BREAKING NEWS: I am pleased to announce that the United States of America has entered into an Agreement with The Kingdom of Denmark, and Greenland, that gives the United States permanent control over security, and all other needs, in Greenland, completely addressing ALL of our many U.S. concerns. There will be NO COST to the United States!”
He added that “from now on, no U.S. adversary can EVER have a base in Greenland, have a military presence in Greenland, or make sensitive investments in Greenland, without our express written approval,” that “This is an 'Infinite Life' Agreement, there is no end!” and that “We will immediately begin the process of developing a large Military presence in the appropriate part of Greenland.” He called it “a dream come true for the United States of America,” and wrote that for a century presidents had understood Greenland's importance “but NONE of them were able to do anything about it.”
Nothing has been signed. The Danish Prime Minister's Office published its own release the same day under the headline “Expected agreement on strengthened security in the Arctic and the North Atlantic Area.” It says the three governments “are expected to sign an agreement on strengthened security in the Arctic and the North Atlantic Area next week,” at the United Nations General Assembly, after which “the agreement will enter into force subject to the necessary national parliamentary procedures.” No text has been released. The BBC reported flatly, “No text of the agreement has been released,” and that the Danish and Greenlandic leaders “did not outline its contents.”
The tense is the tell. Trump says the United States “has entered into” an agreement. Danish Prime Minister Mette Frederiksen, the same day, said, “I am glad that we are about to make a great agreement for Greenland, the Kingdom of Denmark, and the United States.” Greenland's Jens-Frederik Nielsen said, “It is encouraging that we are about to make an agreement.”
The substance is described differently too. The phrase “permanent control” appears nowhere in the Danish and Greenlandic statement. Frederiksen's sentence is the opposite emphasis: the agreement “recognizes the sovereignty and territorial integrity of the Kingdom and the Greenlandic people's right to self-determination.”
Secretary of State Marco Rubio's account sits closer to Trump's: “Greenland will forever be part of the strategic defense area of North America and exclude any adversary from it and the surrounding area. This deal permanently and completely addresses our national security concerns in Greenland.”
The sharpest claim comes from officials who would not put their names to it. Unnamed State Department officials told NBC News the agreement “explicitly guarantees the United States the complete ability to do what it deems is necessary in Greenland... including permanent access, basing, and overflight rights,” and told the BBC that the United States could build additional military structures without approval from Greenland or Denmark. No Danish or Greenlandic official has confirmed that, and it is hard to square with the sovereignty language in their own release.
This is a de-escalation from where the dispute started. Trump had demanded Denmark sell or cede the territory and pointedly would not rule out taking it by force, telling reporters in January, “I would like to make a deal the easy way, but if we don't do it the easy way we're going to do it the hard way” (see Buying Greenland).
Greenlandic politicians were guarded. MP Naaja Nathanielsen called it news “we have all been hoping for” while adding, “It is absolutely crucial that any agreement preserves our right to self-determination.” Former politician Aaja Chemnitz said she was skeptical until it is finalized: “I don't have much confidence in Trump.” The Danish paper Berlingske ran the headline “Don't tell Trump that it's the Kingdom of Denmark that has won,” and a Politiken correspondent wrote that Trump “didn't get Greenland, but he was allowed to take a victory lap on social media.”
Separately, a map showing Greenland under a U.S. flag drew objections. It was posted on X by Katie Miller, not by any agency, and is not an official document.
Update (September 22, 2026): it was signed, and the text is now public. Trump, Danish Prime Minister Mette Frederiksen and Naalakkersuisut chairman Jens-Frederik Nielsen signed it at the United Nations building in New York, and the White House published the full text. It is not a new treaty: it amends and supplements the 1951 U.S.-Denmark defense agreement, and it closes, “Done at New York on the 22nd day of September, 2026, in triplicate in the English, Danish, and Greenlandic languages.” The phrase “permanent control” does not appear in it. What does appear, in the preamble, is the opposite emphasis: “Reaffirming the sovereignty and territorial integrity of the Kingdom of Denmark, and recognizing that the People of Greenland constitute a people pursuant to international law with the right to self-determination,” along with a note that the procedure for Greenlandic independence is set out in Danish law.
The United States gained a great deal that is real. It “shall be allowed to modernize and expand its activities in Pituffik Space Base” and to “establish an additional Defense Area at Narsarsuaq and Mestersvig,” in both cases “in accordance with modalities and technical details to be mutually agreed by the Parties.” It gets “the right of free access to and movement between the Defense Areas through Greenland,” and its aircraft “may fly over and land in any territory in Greenland... without restriction except as mutually agreed upon by the Parties,” subject to a clause requiring that these rights “be exercised in a manner that respects the Greenlandic society and the Greenlandic way of life, including hunting, fishing, and other traditional, cultural, historical, and other future activities, to the maximum extent possible.” No non-NATO state may establish military installations in Greenland, and Greenland is to use its own investment screening laws to keep non-NATO and non-EU investors out of critical infrastructure and resource extraction. The agreement “does not have an end date.” The preamble refers to defending the American continent “including through establishment of a Golden Dome defense system.” U.S. contracts for the work are to go “to Greenlandic sources to the maximum extent possible.”
On the sharpest disputed point, what the text says is narrower than the anonymous briefing quoted above, and less tidy than either side's summary. Article IV says “The United States may establish additional defense areas in Greenland and strengthen its military operations or facilities,” and then sets out how: either party may identify the need for a new Defense Area and submit a proposal, after which “The Parties shall immediately convene to engage in consultations through the Permanent Committee to decide implementation details based on mutual agreement. If no agreement is reached within 90 days at the Permanent Committee, consultations shall escalate to the deputy minister level, followed by the minister level.” The text sets out no way for the United States to proceed over Danish or Greenlandic objection, and no arbitration. The Greenlandic paper Sermitsiaq read it the same way: new defense areas “still require approval from Greenland and Denmark first.” The agreement takes effect only “on the date of a diplomatic note informing the United States of the completion of necessary parliamentary procedures by the Kingdom of Denmark together with Greenland.” It needs no vote in the U.S. Congress, and it is not yet in force.
The three governments described the same document differently. At the signing Trump said, “This is tremendous for Europe and for the United States and for everybody and for Greenland,” and in his General Assembly speech hours earlier he said the agreement gives the United States “the complete ability to do what is necessary to defend the American continent, and also Europe and other places.” Danish broadcaster DR reported that at the ceremony he was asked whether American ownership of Greenland was off the table and “did not answer a single question from the press before he left the room.” The Danish and Greenlandic release quoted Frederiksen saying the agreement “anerkender og respekterer Kongerigets suverænitet, territoriale integritet og grønlændernes ret til selvbestemmelse” (“recognizes and respects the Kingdom's sovereignty, territorial integrity and the Greenlanders' right to self-determination”), and Nielsen saying it “anerkender, at vi er et folk med ret til selvbestemmelse” (“recognizes that we are a people with the right to self-determination”). Asked afterward whether American pressure had made Greenland bend, Nielsen said, “Grønland har aldrig bøjet sig for, hvad vi har stået for. Grønland er grønlændernes” (“Greenland has never bowed on what we have stood for. Greenland belongs to Greenlanders”), and added that at home “trust has to be restored, and that will take time.”
Scholars who read the text described it as close to what already existed. Ole Wæver of the University of Copenhagen told Time, “The reality is that the new deal is indeed very close to the 1951 treaty.” David Karol of the University of Maryland called it “largely a rebranding of the status quo to claim a win.” That judgment is theirs, not this entry's; what the record shows is a signed agreement that expands American basing and access in Greenland, reaffirms the Kingdom's sovereignty in its own text, requires mutual agreement for new bases, and awaits ratification in Nuuk and Copenhagen.
Update (October 14, 2026): Trump posted, “Massive Oil, Gas, and Mineral Exploration is getting ready to begin in our new and beautiful Greenland!” The agreement “makes no explicit mention of oil or gas,” CNN reported, and does not grant the U.S. any special exploration rights, the AP reported. Greenland's deputy mining minister, Jørgen Hammeken-Holm, told CNN that “we are very far away from 'massive' exploration” and that smaller explorations “could take years to become operational.”
Update (October 27, 2026): At rallies after the signing, Trump said the agreement had given the United States Greenland. In Perry, Georgia, on October 24, he said, “Denmark was so great. They gave us Greenland. You do know that?” and “We signed an agreement,” calling it “the greatest real estate deal in history, probably after Venezuela.” In Port Huron, Michigan, on October 25, he said, “we did get Greenland,” and, “We own Greenland. We work it with Denmark,” adding that the agreement runs for an “infinite period of time, no limits, no nothing,” according to the Roll Call Factbase transcripts.
The signed text's preamble, quoted above, reaffirms “the sovereignty and territorial integrity of the Kingdom of Denmark.” No Danish or Greenlandic response to the remarks had been reported when this was written.