The security deal over Greenland, announced by President Trump on Friday, relieves the pressure from months of American maneuvering to control the semiautonomous Danish territory and smooths the way for more U.S. investments on the cash-starved but resource-rich Arctic island.
“If the deal gets over the line, it will benefit all parties. “I have seen an increased American investment interest in recent years, and we want to build on that interest.
We need to put behind us the insecurity that has plagued us, not only as individuals but in the business community, for nearly two years,” said Naaja Nathanielsen, lawmaker and former Greenlandic minister for business and mineral resources. One addition to the new deal is that it will remain in effect in the event of Greenlandic independence from Denmark or a collapse of the North Atlantic Treaty Organization, U.S. and Danish officials said.
Trump’s threats to annex Greenland triggered the worst foreign-policy crisis in Denmark since World War II and incensed Washington’s European NATO allies. “Greater clarity and stability make long-term investment more feasible, lower the perceived risk of committing capital, and should help unlock the private investment Greenland needs to develop its resources, infrastructure and economy. Trump’s annexation threats made Greenlanders and Danes deeply skeptical of U.S. investors, particularly those with ties to the administration. Horn called the allegations “fantastical.
From 2020, during Trump’s first term and the Biden administration, the U.S. pledged roughly $24 million across three tranches to development projects in Greenland, not all of which has been disbursed.
“This agreement removes a significant geopolitical uncertainty that has hung over Greenland in the last year,” said Larry Swets, chair of Greenland Energy, which plans to spend $60 million drilling for oil in the island’s east. He said he worked behind the scenes to shape the coming deal, which he hoped would help attract U.S. investors to Greenlandic projects like his. Most of the allocated money went to pay American consultants, for example to conduct underground surveys or advise the Greenlandic government on tourism and minerals, Keldsen said.
Trump earlier this year threatened to impose tariffs on allied countries that opposed his territorial designs on Greenland.
