President Trump announced Friday that the United States has struck a security deal with Denmark over Greenland, ending months of threats to take the Arctic island by force and instead securing what he called "permanent control over security, and all other needs" on Danish territory, according to NPR.

In a social media post confirming the agreement, Trump said the deal "completely" addresses "ALL of our many U.S. concerns" and that his administration would "immediately" begin building up a larger American military presence on the mineral-rich island, per CNBC.

Sovereignty Stays, Security Doesn't

The framework keeps Greenland formally under Danish sovereignty — a red line Copenhagen and Nuuk held throughout a year of pressure from Washington — while giving the U.S. sweeping new security authority. The agreement explicitly bans any non-NATO country from basing troops on Greenland and includes a screening mechanism designed to block Russian and Chinese investment in the territory, according to reporting from Al Jazeera.

"THE AGREEMENT RECOGNIZES THE SOVEREIGNTY AND TERRITORIAL INTEGRITY OF THE KINGDOM AND THE GREENLANDIC PEOPLE'S RIGHT TO SELF-DETERMINATION."

Greenland's prime minister, Mette Frederiksen — who has spent much of the year publicly rejecting Trump's overtures to buy or annex the island — struck a measured tone in her own statement, emphasizing that self-determination for Greenlanders survived the negotiation intact. The deal is expected to be formally signed by the U.S., Denmark and Greenland next week on the sidelines of the United Nations General Assembly in New York, per Stars and Stripes.

From Threats to a Framework

The agreement marks a dramatic reversal in tone from earlier this year, when Trump repeatedly floated using military or economic force to bring Greenland under American control, alarming a NATO ally and stoking a diplomatic rift with Copenhagen. Friday's framework instead channels that pressure into an expanded but negotiated U.S. footprint, built around Pituffik Space Base, the northernmost American military installation, which already tracks missile launches and satellites from Greenland's northwest coast.

What remains unclear is the scale and timeline of the promised military buildup, and how Greenland's roughly 57,000 residents — many of whom have voiced discomfort with becoming a bargaining chip between Washington and Copenhagen — will be consulted as new U.S. infrastructure moves in.