President Donald Trump said he had agreed the outline of a future arrangement on Greenland and wider Arctic security after talks with Nato Secretary General Mark Rutte, and would drop a threatened round of tariffs against European countries.
In a post on his Truth Social platform on Wednesday evening, Mr Trump said a “framework of a future deal” had been formed and that, if implemented, it would be “great” for the United States and Nato.
He did not set out what the agreement would contain, nor how it would address the central issue of sovereignty over Greenland, an autonomous territory within the Kingdom of Denmark. Denmark has repeatedly rejected any suggestion that the island could be transferred to the United States.
Mr Trump linked the claimed breakthrough to trade policy, writing that “based upon this understanding” he would not impose tariffs that he had previously said would take effect on 1 February. Several reports said the threatened measures were directed at eight European countries, presented by the White House as leverage in the Greenland dispute.
The announcement came as Mr Trump attended the World Economic Forum in Davos, where he addressed business and political leaders and faced questions about his renewed interest in Greenland. In Davos, he said he would not use military force to take the island, while continuing to argue that US control would serve American security interests.
According to Mr Trump, negotiations on the proposed arrangement will be led by Vice-President JD Vance, Secretary of State Marco Rubio and special envoy Steve Witkoff, with the trio reporting directly to him.
A central feature of the talks, Mr Trump said, is discussion of “Golden Dome”, a US missile-defence concept which he has presented as a broad protective shield and which, in his account, would also cover Greenland.
Greenland already hosts the United States’ northernmost military installation, Pituffik Space Base, which supports missile warning and space-surveillance missions. The base operates under the 1951 defence agreement between the United States and Denmark on the defence of Greenland, which gives Washington extensive rights to operate and develop defence areas on the island.
Recent weeks have seen heightened tension inside Nato over Mr Trump’s statements, with European allies seeking reassurances that the dispute would not spill into military or economic coercion. Nato officials and member states have stressed that Arctic security concerns can be addressed through allied planning and existing legal frameworks, rather than changes to sovereignty.
Denmark’s foreign minister, Lars Løkke Rasmussen, has publicly welcomed Mr Trump’s statement that he would not use force, while signalling that Copenhagen does not accept the premise that Greenland’s status is negotiable. In comments reported by international media on Wednesday, he said the issue had not disappeared, and underlined that Denmark and Greenland exercise sovereignty in the territory.
Mr Rutte has not, at the time of reporting, published a detailed account of any specific deal on Greenland. Nato’s Secretary General does not have a mandate to negotiate territorial arrangements on behalf of member states, leaving uncertainty over how Mr Trump’s “framework” would translate into decisions by Denmark, Greenland’s government, and other allies with Arctic interests.
The latest shift follows a period in which Mr Trump had threatened trade penalties against countries he said were obstructing US aims on Greenland. Nato allies have been concerned that a dispute over an allied territory could become intertwined with broader transatlantic trade and defence negotiations.
Greenland’s strategic value has risen as Arctic sea routes become more navigable and competition increases over resources and positioning. Denmark’s military leadership has argued that its focus in Greenland is on monitoring Russian activity and managing wider security risks in the High North, rather than preparing for conflict with the United States, while also calling for stronger allied capacity in the region.
For European governments, the immediate question is whether Mr Trump’s tariff reversal signals a durable de-escalation or a tactical pause while Washington pursues a revised security arrangement around Greenland and the Arctic. For Denmark and Greenland, the larger issue remains how to manage US demands while maintaining existing defence co-operation and avoiding a dispute that would test Nato’s political cohesion.
