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Greenland’s Prime Minister Jens-Frederik Nielsen holds a press convention in Nuuk, Greenland, Thursday. Reuters-Yonhap
COPENHAGEN, Denmark — Leaders of Denmark and Greenland insisted Thursday that the island’s sovereignty was non-negotiable after U.S. President Donald Trump stated he had agreed with the NATO chief on the framework of a future Arctic safety deal that Trump stated would grant the U.S. “complete entry” to the territory.
A lot concerning the potential deal remained unclear, although Trump stated in a Fox Enterprise interview that “we’re going to have complete entry to Greenland,” a semiautonomous territory of NATO ally Denmark. He added that “we’re going to have all of the army entry we wish.”
NATO spokesperson Allison Hart stated the alliance’s secretary common, Mark Rutte, didn’t suggest any “compromise to sovereignty” in discussions with Trump.
Trump, who has repeatedly argued that the U.S. wanted Greenland to counter threats from Russia and China, on Wednesday abruptly scrapped the tariffs he had threatened to impose on eight European nations to press for U.S. management over Greenland. It was a dramatic reversal hours after he insisted he wished to get the island “together with proper, title and possession” — although he additionally stated he wouldn’t use drive.
Greenlandic Prime Minister Jens-Frederik Nielsen voiced guarded aid, however he stated he knew no concrete particulars of the settlement Trump cited.
“‘I don’t know what there may be within the settlement, or the deal about my nation,” he instructed reporters.
Trump known as it a “framework of a future deal” that, if accomplished, would additionally permit the USA to put in a component of his “Golden Dome,” a part of a multibillion greenback missile protection system, in Greenland.
Danish Prime Minister Mette Frederiksen stated safety within the Arctic is a matter for all of NATO, and it’s “good and pure” that it’s mentioned between the U.S. president and Rutte. She stated in an announcement that she had spoken with Rutte “on an ongoing foundation,” together with earlier than and after he met Trump in Davos.
She wrote that “we can’t negotiate on our sovereignty” and added: “I’ve been knowledgeable that this has not been the case.”
Frederiksen stated that Denmark desires to proceed participating in constructive dialogue with allies on learn how to strengthen safety within the Arctic, together with the Golden Dome program, “supplied that that is performed with respect for our territorial integrity.”
Denmark has stated the U.S., which already has a army presence in Greenland, can increase its bases there. The U.S. is already occasion to a 1951 treaty that offers it broad rights to arrange army bases there with the consent of Denmark and Greenland.
Hart, the NATO spokesperson, stated that Rutte “didn’t suggest any compromise to sovereignty throughout his assembly with President Trump.” She stated that negotiations between Denmark, Greenland and the U.S. “will go ahead aimed toward guaranteeing that Russia and China by no means achieve a foothold – economically or militarily – in Greenland.”
Danish officers have famous that, in any case, NATO doesn’t have a mandate to barter a deal on behalf of Denmark and Greenland.
Nielsen, Greenland’s chief, stated Rutte had delivered the message that Greenland is keen to do extra and host a NATO mission.
“Till yesterday, we could not rule out something,” he instructed reporters within the island’s capital, Nuuk. “Respectful dialogue via the suitable channels is what we have now been looking for from the get-go, and I additionally really feel that is the intention now from the opposite events, and I am pleased for that.”
He pointed to a working group that the Danish and Greenlandic international ministers agreed with U.S. Vice President JD Vance and Secretary of State Marco Rubio to arrange final week, earlier than Trump threatened tariffs. Denmark and the White Home on the time supplied diverging public views on its function.
Requested whether or not U.S. sovereignty over small pockets of Greenland could be a chance, Nielsen stated that “we’re prepared to barter a greater partnership and so forth, however sovereignty is a crimson line.”
On the streets of Copenhagen, some have been skeptical about Trump’s swap.
“I feel the person has stated many issues and performed a whole lot of various things to what he says,” stated Louise Pedersen, 22, who works with a startup firm. “I’ve a tough time believing it. I feel it’s terrifying that we stand right here in 2026.”
She stated it’s for Greenlanders to determine what occurs with their land — “not Donald Trump.”
“I don’t actually belief something Mr. Trump is saying,” stated Poul Bjoern Strand, 70, who works in promoting.
Chancellor Friedrich Merz of Germany, one of many European international locations that had confronted Trump’s risk of tariffs over Greenland, underlined the necessity for European NATO allies to do extra to safe the Arctic area.
“We’ll shield Denmark, Greenland, the north from the risk posed by Russia,” he stated on the World Financial Discussion board assembly in Davos, Switzerland. “We’ll uphold the ideas on which the trans-Atlantic partnership is based, specifically sovereignty and territorial integrity.”
“We help talks between Denmark, Greenland (and) the USA on the premise of those ideas,” aiming for nearer cooperation, Merz stated. “It’s excellent news that we’re making steps into that proper route. I welcome President Trump’s remarks from final night time — that is the suitable solution to go.”
Frederiksen traveled to the UK on Thursday for talks with British Prime Minister Keir Starmer, who stated the “onerous yards” of bolstering Arctic safety can start and credited Trump’s “pragmatism” for withdrawing his tariff threats.
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