United States

The United States, September 19, 2026. The United States claims a total security victory in the Arctic. On Friday, September 18, Donald Trump announced on Truth Social that he had concluded an agreement with the Kingdom of Denmark and Greenland, which, according to him, gives "permanent control of security, and all other needs, to Greenland, completely meeting ALL our many American concerns". He assures that this pact, which he describes as an "infinite lifetime" agreement, has "NO COST" for American taxpayers.

Secretary of State Marco Rubio hailed "a huge victory for the United States and the American people", stating that the agreement "permanently guarantees American security interests in the Arctic, at no cost to the taxpayer". According to him, "Greenland will forever be part of the North American strategic defense zone" and will exclude "any adversary". A senior State Department official, cited by several American media outlets, details that Washington obtains permanent rights of access, stationing, and overflight, the possibility of increasing the number of its bases, as well as a right of scrutiny over any non-NATO military presence and investments in sensitive sectors, explicitly targeting China and Russia.

The text is based on a defense agreement dating back to the 1950s and, according to the cited officials, falls far short of a takeover of the territory that Trump had long demanded. The agreement is to be signed next week in New York, on the sidelines of the United Nations General Assembly, before ratification by the Danish and Greenlandic parliaments.

The American press also links this announcement to the domestic calendar: it comes after the military operation that ousted Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro and the entry into war alongside Israel against Iran, and allows Trump to claim a foreign policy success before the midterm elections, in a context where the Iranian conflict has weakened his campaign promise to avoid external commitments. According to the State Department, the agreement has no expiration date and will remain in effect "even if Greenland becomes a fully independent country", while the island already hosts a US base on its west coast since the 1950s.