By Tom Ozimek
President Donald Trump said on Jan. 22 that the United States is negotiating an arrangement to secure full access to Greenland with no payment in return and unconstrained by any time limit, with the president previously describing U.S control of the Arctic island as essential to both national and international security.
In remarks to Fox News’ Maria Bartiromo, Trump said that the details of the deal are still being finalized, but that, “essentially, it’s total access” to Greenland for the United States, which will not “have to pay anything” in exchange and will not be subjected to any time caps.
“There’s no end, there’s no time limit,” Trump said. “We’re not doing a 99-year or a 10-year deal or anything else.”
Trump said that the deal would provide broad U.S. military access to Greenland and reiterated his plans for the construction of a “Golden Dome” missile defense shield that he said would be made in the United States.
His comments follow a Jan. 21 meeting with NATO Secretary-General Mark Rutte, after which NATO said talks were underway among allies aimed at ensuring Arctic security and preventing Russia and China from gaining a foothold in Greenland.
Discussions are underway among allies to bolster Arctic security, led by NATO’s seven Arctic-member states, a spokesperson told The Epoch Times.
“The Secretary General had a very productive meeting with President Trump during which they discussed the critical significance of security in the Arctic region to all Allies, including the United States,” NATO spokesperson Alison Hart said in a Jan. 21 emailed statement.
Hart said details of the framework deal remained sparse and were still being negotiated.
“Discussions among NATO Allies on the framework the President referenced will focus on ensuring Arctic security through the collective efforts of Allies, especially the seven Arctic Allies,” she said. “Negotiations between Denmark, Greenland, and the United States will go forward aimed at ensuring that Russia and China never gain a foothold—economically or militarily—in Greenland.”
Rutte, speaking at the World Economic Forum in Davos on Jan. 21, said Trump was accurate to focus on Russian and Chinese activity in the region as warming temperatures and melting ice open new shipping corridors.
“When it comes to the Arctic, I think President Trump is right. Other leaders in NATO are right. We need to defend the Arctic,” Rutte said, adding that opening sea lanes could offer opportunities for Russian and Chinese activity.
Trump later announced what he described as a prospective deal in a Truth Social post and described the framework as beneficial for both the United States and the NATO alliance.
“This solution, if consummated, will be a great one for the United States of America, and all NATO Nations,” he wrote.
Vice President JD Vance, Secretary of State Marco Rubio, and special envoy Steve Witkoff were tasked with finalizing negotiations in the coming weeks, according to Trump.
Tariff Threat Pulled Back After Greenland Progress
After signaling progress on a Greenland arrangement following his meeting with Rutte, Trump retreated from his threat to impose new tariffs on European countries that opposed his push for U.S. control of the Arctic island.
“Based upon this understanding, I will not be imposing the Tariffs that were scheduled to go into effect on February 1st,” he wrote.
Days earlier, Trump threatened to slap a 10 percent tariff on eight European countries—Denmark, Norway, Sweden, France, Germany, the United Kingdom, the Netherlands, and Finland—and warned that the duties would jump to 25 percent on June 1 if they didn’t back down.
Amid tensions over Trump’s push for control of Greenland, the European Parliament announced on Jan. 21 that it had halted work on a trade deal between the EU and the United States, citing threats to sovereignty.
“By threatening the territorial integrity and sovereignty of an EU member state and by using tariffs as a coercive instrument, the US is undermining the stability and predictability of EU-US trade relations,” Bernd Lange, chair of the European Parliament’s International Trade Committee and the standing rapporteur for the United States, said in a statement.
Trump has repeatedly said that the United States must purchase, annex, or otherwise acquire Greenland “for the purpose of national security” before Russia or China becomes entrenched in the region. While the president had previously not ruled out using military force to gain control of the island, he said in his Jan. 21 speech in Davos that he did not believe this would be necessary.
“We would be, frankly, unstoppable,” Trump said of the prospect of a military seizure of Greenland. “But I won’t do that. […] I don’t have to use force. I don’t want to use force. I won’t use force.”
The semiautonomous Danish territory straddles key sea lanes, including emerging trans-Arctic shipping corridors, and is rich in critical minerals and rare earth elements.
Trump said he believes the United States is the only country that’s in a position to secure Greenland in the face of potential threats from adversaries, and that U.S. control would “greatly enhance” the security of the entire NATO alliance.
The president has also tied Greenland directly to his planned “Golden Dome” missile defense system, which he has said could be operational before his term ends in 2029.
Greenland’s location could prove critical in a hypothetical nuclear conflict, as some intercontinental ballistic missiles from Russia and China would likely travel along Arctic flight paths on the shortest trajectories to the United States, and vice versa.
“If there is a war, much of the action will take place on that piece of ice,” Trump said at the World Economic Forum this week. “Think of it: those missiles would be flying right over the center.”
The United States already maintains a key installation at Pituffik Space Force Base in Greenland, which houses early-warning radar systems designed to detect and track ballistic missile launches over the Arctic.
