President Donald Trump is due to meet with the leaders of Greenland and Denmark on Tuesday to sign an agreement expected to expand the United States military presence in Greenland and ease a diplomatic standoff over the strategically located Arctic island.
Greenland, a former colony and now a semi-autonomous territory of the Kingdom of Denmark, is located between the Arctic and North America and holds significant mineral and energy resources.
Trump’s refusal to rule out military or economic force to acquire Greenland triggered a diplomatic crisis within NATO in January and led Denmark and Greenland into negotiations with Washington.
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The agreement is expected to allow the United States to expand its military footprint in Greenland, alongside the existing Pituffik Space Base.
Current reporting indicates that the United States plans to reopen a former Cold War-era base at Narsarsuaq in southern Greenland and establish a military presence at Mestersvig on the island’s east coast, which is currently used by Denmark’s Sirius Dog Sled Patrol. The details remain subject to the agreement’s signing.
Trump is scheduled to meet Danish Prime Minister Mette Frederiksen and Greenland Prime Minister Jens-Frederik Nielsen at the United Nations General Assembly in New York for the trilateral signing ceremony.
Danish Foreign Minister Lars Lokke Rasmussen has said the agreement will place Arctic security under NATO’s collective watch rather than leaving it solely to Washington and Copenhagen.
Trump said the agreement would give the United States “permanent control over security, and all other needs, in Greenland.”
Denmark and Greenland, however, have maintained that the agreement would not compromise Greenland’s sovereignty, while its precise scope remains unclear.
The full text of the agreement had not been made public ahead of the signing, leaving uncertainty over whether it would amend the 1951 defence treaty that provides the legal basis for the US military presence in Greenland or establish a new framework.
The agreement follows months of pressure from Trump over Greenland, including his earlier interest in acquiring the territory.
During the Cold War, the United States maintained numerous military installations in Greenland, but the Pituffik Space Base is currently the only active US military installation on the island.
The planned agreement is expected to strengthen US military access and cooperation in the Arctic while maintaining Danish sovereignty over Greenland, according to reporting on the arrangement.
Reuters
