Denmark cautiously optimistic over Trump’s Greenland deal

Denmark’s government was cautiously optimistic on Saturday following US President Donald Trump’s announcement of a deal on Greenland to bolster US military presence there but keep the island under Danish control after months of threats by the US president to seize the semi-autonomous territory of a Nato ally.The Arctic island’s top leaders echoed that stance and said the deal, which has not yet been made public, was long in coming.US, Greenlandic and Danish officials had quietly negotiated for months behind the scenes, searching for solutions to address some of Trump’s security concerns about the territory of roughly 56,000 residents.With the announcement of the pact, Trump is able to tout a foreign policy achievement ahead of the midterm elections in the United States.Denmark’s Foreign Minister Lars Løkke Rasmussen and Greenland’s Foreign Minister Vivian Motzfeldt during a press conference at the Danish Embassy in Washington DC in January. Photo: AFPTrump said on Friday that the agreement would give the US “permanent control over security, and all other needs, in Greenland, completely addressing ALL of our many US concerns”.Denmark and the US already have a long-standing security agreement that allows the US to deploy forces in Greenland, and it was not immediately clear how this deal would be different from that.“I think it’s obvious that we can expect more bases in Greenland. But it’s important to say that if we look in the past, especially during the Cold War, the US had immense military presence in Greenland,” said Marc Jacobsen, an associate professor at the Royal Danish Defence College and the head of research at the Centre for Arctic Security Studies.He said it was a win for Trump. “It’s important for him to show that he’s a good businessman, that he kind of forced the pressure on Denmark and Greenland into something new.”