On Tuesday, during a session of the United Nations General Assembly, the United States, Denmark and Greenland finally came to an agreement to expand the U.S. military presence in Greenland. U.S. President Donald Trump, Danish Prime Minister Mette Frederiksen and Greenlandic Prime Minister Jens-Frederik Nielsen signed a deal permitting the U.S. to expand its military activities on the island.

Located in northeastern North America, Greenland is the world’s largest island, yet it only houses a permanent population of approximately 55,000. Despite what its name suggests, the majority of Greenland’s landmass is covered by an ice sheet, and nearly the entire island has a polar or subpolar climate.

Greenland’s location is the source of its military importance. It forms part of the Greenland-Iceland-United Kingdom gap, a crucial Arctic maritime passage. According to the Council of Foreign Relations, Russia’s Northern Fleet must use this passage to reach the North Atlantic. The U.S. is apprehensive towards the idea of a non-NATO presence on the island, namely that of either Russia or China.

This deal has taken place following Trump’s calls for the transfer of Greenland from Denmark to the U.S. He has even refused to rule out the option of a military invasion of the island during news conferences last January and May, according to CNN. Weeks later, he dropped these threats, but reaffirmed his desire for a U.S. annexation of Greenland.

There were several terms agreed to by the three parties.

First, it is stated that the U.S. is allowed to set up two new military bases, one in the settlement of Narsarsuaq in the south and another at Mestersvig military outpost in the east. The U.S. is also allowed to modernize its existing Pituffik base. 

In addition, the U.S. may formally propose additional military bases, after which the Permanent Committee established in a 1991 agreement has 90 days to make a decision to approve or deny the proposal. If this 90-day period expires before a decision is made, jurisdiction over the matter is transferred to the deputy-ministers and then the ministers of the parties.

It is explicitly stated that the U.S. has free access through Greenland for purposes of traveling between its several military bases, and it was given similar access to the island’s territorial waters and airspace. The new agreement expands the terms of the previous treaties, now giving the American military undersea access, too. This is due to the ever-growing use of submarines in the U.S. military as well as other countries’ militaries.

Greenland has a sizable permanent population of mostly Inuit Greenlanders. Tuesday’s agreement specifies that U.S. military activity “must be exercised in a manner that respects the Greenlandic society and the Greenlandic way of life” so as to cause them the least amount of disturbance possible.

Another clause of the agreement guarantees that, in the event it declares independence from Denmark, Greenland will remain in NATO and will continue to uphold the terms of the agreement.

A 2009 law gives Greenlanders the right to hold an independence referendum, a right which they have not yet practiced. However, a 2025 poll by the Verian Group shows that 56% of Greenlanders would vote for independence if a referendum were held that day. The recent deal is intended to preserve the island’s security regardless of its statehood status.

This agreement comes after months of diplomatic tension between the U.S. and Denmark, two NATO allies. Though the U.S. has been granted permission to increase its military presence in Greenland to increase security in the Arctic, the island will remain a territory of Denmark.