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The United States and Denmark will renegotiate a 1951 defense agreement covering Greenland, a source familiar with talks between U.S. President Donald Trump and NATO Secretary-General Mark Rutte said Thursday.
European allies would also increase efforts to bolster security in the Arctic, but stressed that discussions did not include placing U.S. bases on Greenland under American sovereignty, a source told Agence France-Presse (AFP).
“The 1951 agreement will get renegotiated,” the source said.
The defense agreement, originally signed in 1951 and updated in 2004, already allows Washington to increase troop deployments in Greenland, provided Danish and Greenlandic authorities are informed in advance.
The United States currently operates one base on the island, the Pituffik Space Base in northwestern Greenland, which serves as a key component of the U.S. missile defense system.
Trump announced a framework following talks with Rutte at the World Economic Forum in Davos on Wednesday, though details of the proposed agreement remained unclear.
Rutte said one outcome of the discussions was a focus on ensuring that China and Russia do not gain economic or military access to Greenland.
Trump’s past statements suggesting the United States could take control of Greenland have unsettled transatlantic relations and triggered what officials describe as NATO’s most serious crisis in decades.
In response, some European countries have urged NATO to consider launching a mission in the Arctic to strengthen regional security, citing Trump’s remarks as a catalyst for renewed concern over the strategic importance of Greenland.
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