Denmark on Saturday hailed a "binding" deal announced by US President Donald Trump to give Washington "permanent control" over Greenland's security.

Since returning to the White House in January 2025, Trump has repeatedly insisted that Washington needed to control Greenland for strategic reasons, alarming Nato ally Denmark and sparking fierce pushback from the alliance.

Denmark and Greenland — an autonomous Danish territory — both hailed the agreement and said they would sign it on the sidelines of the UN General Assembly in New York next week.

"A long period of uncertainty will hopefully be replaced by a binding agreement that strengthens security in the Arctic and North Atlantic," Danish Foreign Minister Lars Lokke Rasmussen said in a social media post on Saturday.

The deal respected Denmark's "red lines" and was "important" in light of a changed security situation, he said.

While the terms are still unclear, Denmark maintains that its sovereignty remains intact.

Prime Minister Mette Frederiksen said the agreement with Washington "recognises the sovereignty and territorial integrity of the Kingdom and the Greenlandic people's right to self-determination".

It was "good for Nato and Europe", she said.

Greenland Prime Minister Jens-Frederik Nielsen said the deal "recognises Greenland's interests" and "strengthens" its security.

Trump hailed it as an "'Infinite Life' Agreement, there is no end!".

Washington would immediately start building up a large military presence in the territory, he added.

"From now on, no US 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."

While Trump presented the deal as a major triumph, Danish commentators said he had likely gained little.

They noted that, under a 1951 defence pact updated in 2004, Washington was already able to ramp up its military presence on the island provided it informs Denmark and Greenland in advance.

"Shhh. Don't tell Trump that it's the Kingdom of Denmark that has prevailed," US correspondent Jacob Heinel Jensen wrote in Danish newspaper Berlingske on Saturday.

Ulrik Pram Gad, a researcher at the Danish Institute for International Studies, said Trump "obviously didn't get in this agreement what he originally set out to have, that is, sovereign control over all of Greenland as a part of the United States". (AFP)



Edited by Tony Sabine