United States President Donald Trump claims the US has reached a deal with Denmark granting it “permanent control” over Greenland’s security “and all other needs”. The announcement comes more than a year after the US president threatened to seize the self-governing Arctic territory, which is part of Denmark. Those threats roiled the NATO security alliance that Washington and Copenhagen are part of.
According to Denmark, the deal is expected to be signed during next week’s United Nations General Assembly meeting in New York. Copenhagen has stressed that it retains sovereignty over Greenland, and this deal will still need to be ratified in the Danish and Greenland parliaments. Here’s what we know about the deal and what it could mean for the US and Greenland: The official text has yet to be released.
But according to Trump, the deal gives the US permanent control over Greenland’s security and “all other needs”, at no cost to the US. The deal bars US adversaries from establishing a military presence or making “sensitive investments” in Greenland without US approval, said Trump. A US Department of State official cited by the BBC said the deal will mean non-NATO states won’t be able to set up bases in Greenland and will be barred from “making investments in Greenland that could threaten the United States”.
The official said that means China and Russia won’t be able to build bases or send troops to Greenland, and that those states would be blocked from investing “in sensitive sectors”. However, Mikkel Olesen, a senior researcher at the Danish Institute for International Studies, told Al Jazeera that it is unlikely to be a major concession because “the Danes and Greenlanders never wished for Russia or China to have bases in Greenland.” However, it is unclear whether other countries could similarly be labelled “adversaries” to the US in the future, subjecting them to these restrictions. Trump called the deal an “‘Infinite Life’ Agreement”, meaning “it never ends”.
The State Department official also said the agreement gives the US the right to build more military sites on the island without Greenland or Denmark approving. According to the official, the deal would remain in force even if Greenland were to become an independent state in the future. There was no specific mention of potential US mining rights in Greenland, which has a rich deposit of rare-earth minerals, including zinc, iron, uranium and graphite, that are likely to interest Trump.
These minerals are highly sought after and are used in the manufacture of hundreds of technological products, from smartphones to fighter jets. However, some observers think this could be what Trump means by his mention of “sensitive investments”. The US president has sought to expand the US’s global access to rare-earth metals, especially as China, a global leader in the technology, AI and renewables industries with 60 percent of the world’s known deposits of these minerals in its territory, restricts their exports.
Extract — continue reading at the source.
