President Donald Trump will sign a security deal with the prime ministers of Denmark and Greenland in a ceremony in New York on Tuesday while the president is in town for the annual U.N. General Assembly, a White House official confirmed to ABC News.
“The three leaders will formalize their new agreement that will secure and defend the security of Greenland and the United States,” a White House official said in a statement. Trump announced last Friday in a post on his social media platform that the agreement with Denmark gives the U.S. “permanent control over security, and all other needs, in Greenland, completely addressing ALL of our many U.S. concerns.”
While it appears to fall short of the “Complete and Total Control” by the U.S. that Trump once called for, it does grant the U.S. ability to expand its military footprint in Greenland. A State Department official said the deal “explicitly guarantees the United States the complete ability to do what it deems is necessary in Greenland in order to secure and defend the American continent.”
In his post last Friday, Trump said, “At my direction, we worked with representatives of Denmark and Greenland to guarantee that the United States will FOREVER have the complete ability to do what is necessary in Greenland in order to secure and defend the security of Greenland, and the United States of America.”
The announcement came after months of escalating rhetoric from the president, who has repeatedly threatened to take over the territory citing national security purposes. Trump’s threats, including refusing to rule out taking the territory by military force, sowed tension between the U.S. and its European allies and sparked consternation from Greenlanders.
Trump to sign agreement with leaders of Greenland and Denmark at United Nations
