US President Donald Trump has said that the Greenland deal currently being worked out by his administration and NATO would grant American forces “total access” to the territory at zero cost to Washington.
Earlier this month, Trump promised to seize Greenland from Denmark “the easy way” or “the hard way.” During a speech at the World Economic Forum’s annual meeting in Davos on Wednesday, he described the island as “ours,” and called on Copenhagen to enter “immediate negotiations” to hand it over to the US.
Denmark refused, and Trump softened his approach after a meeting with NATO Secretary General Mark Rutte later that evening. He said that he would no longer tariff European nations opposing his acquisition plans, and that he and Rutte had come up with a deal that “everybody’s very happy with.”
“It’s being negotiated right now,” he told Fox News on Thursday.
“I think it’s gonna be something,” he said. “I’m not gonna have to pay anything. We’re gonna have all the military access that we want. We’re gonna be able to put what we need on Greenland.”
Trump said that Greenland is vital for his planned ‘Golden Dome’ missile defense system, a project that the Congressional Budget Office estimates will cost the US $831 billion. Trump claimed on Thursday that the system – which will supposedly utilize space-based interceptors – will be “Israel times probably 100.”
Neither Rutte nor Trump have commented on whether their deal would impact Danish sovereignty. Danish Foreign Minister Lars Lokke Rasmussen said he had spoken with Rutte but declined to provide details.
Greenland already hosts around 150 US troops at Pituffik Space Base, formerly known as Thule Air Base. Under the 1951 Greenland Defense Agreement, American forces can move freely throughout the territory, and there is no upper limit set on the number of US troops that can be deployed there.
Trump has claimed that only US ownership can protect Greenland from Russia and China, arguing that both would claim the island if the US didn’t take it first. However, Denmark maintains that there is no external threat to Greenland “today.” Russian President Vladimir Putin has said that Greenland is of no concern to Moscow, and that the US and Denmark would “sort it out among themselves.”