COPENHAGEN, Denmark — Denmark’s prime minister insisted that her country can’t negotiate on its sovereignty on Thursday after U.S. President Donald Trump said he agreed on a “framework of a future deal” on Arctic security with the head of NATO. Trump said the outcome would be “all the military access we want” to Greenland.
Trump on Wednesday abruptly scrapped the tariffs he had threatened to impose on eight European nations to press for U.S. control over Greenland, a semiautonomous territory of NATO ally Denmark. It was a dramatic reversal hours after he insisted he wanted to get the island “including right, title and ownership” – though he also said he would not use force.
Much about the potential deal remained unclear on Thursday, though Trump said in a Fox Business interview that “we’re going to have total access to Greenland.”
“We’re going to have all the military access we want,” he added.
Trump said the deal, if completed, will also allow for the United States to install an element of his “Golden Dome,” part of a multibillion dollar missile defense system, in Greenland.
Danish Prime Minister Mette Frederiksen said security in the Arctic is a matter for all of NATO, and it is “good and natural” that it be discussed between the U.S. president and Rutte. She said in a statement that she had spoken with Rutte “on an ongoing basis,” including before and after he met Trump in Davos.
She wrote that NATO is fully aware of the kingdom of Denmark’s position that anything political can be negotiated on, including security, investment and economic issues – “but we cannot negotiate on our sovereignty.”
“I have been informed that this has not been the case,” she said, adding that only Denmark and Greenland can make decisions on issues concerning Denmark and Greenland.
Frederiksen said that Denmark wants to continue engaging in constructive dialogue with allies on how to strengthen security in the Arctic, including the U.S. Golden Dome program, “provided that this is done with respect for our territorial integrity.”
Denmark has said the U.S., which already has a military presence, can boost its bases on Greenland. The U.S. is already party to a 1951 treaty that gives it broad rights to set up military bases there with the consent of Denmark and Greenland.
NATO spokesperson Allison Hart said the alliance’s secretary general, Mark Rutte, “did not propose any compromise to sovereignty during his meeting with President Trump.” She said that negotiations between Denmark, Greenland and the U.S. “will go forward aimed at ensuring that Russia and China never gain a foothold – economically or militarily – in Greenland.”
Christan Friis Bach, the chair of the Danish parliament’s foreign policy committee, told The Associated Press that Denmark wants to see a “consolidated and permanent” NATO surveillance and security mission in the Arctic, along the lines of the Baltic Sentry mission the alliance launched in the Baltic Sea last year.
On the streets of Copenhagen, some were skeptical about Trump’s switch.
“I think the man has said many things and done a lot of different things to what he says,” said Louise Pedersen, 22, who works with a startup company. “I have a hard time believing it. I think it’s terrifying that we stand here in 2026.”
She said it’s for Greenlanders to decide what happens with their land – “not Donald Trump.”
“I don’t really trust anything Mr. Trump is saying,” said Poul Bjoern Strand, 70, an advertising worker.
On the possibility of ceding territory, he said: “That’s not what the Greenlanders want, that’s not what the Danish people want, and … I cannot believe that Danes are going to follow that.”
Chancellor Friedrich Merz of Germany, one of the European countries that had faced Trump’s threat of tariffs over Greenland, underlined the need for European NATO allies to do more to secure the Arctic region and stressed that it is “a common trans-Atlantic interest.”
“We will protect Denmark, Greenland, the north from the threat posed by Russia,” he said at the World Economic Forum meeting in Davos, Switzerland. “We will uphold the principles on which the trans-Atlantic partnership is founded, namely sovereignty and territorial integrity.”
“We support talks between Denmark, Greenland (and) the United States on the basis of these principles,” aiming for closer cooperation, Merz said. “It is good news that we are making steps into that right direction. I welcome President Trump’s remarks from last night – this is the right way to go.”
Frederiksen traveled to the United Kingdom on Thursday for talks with British Prime Minister Keir Starmer, who said the pair would discuss how to “take the vital steps” towards security in the Arctic as he credited Trump’s “pragmatism” for withdrawing his tariff threats.
