The outline of the Greenland "framework" brought forward by President Donald Trump and NATO Secretary-General Mark Rutte has left the question of Greenland's sovereignty open, not closed.
The Greenland standoff is poised to continue after leaked outlines of the proposed arrangement suggested the U.S. is seeking sovereign control over the land footprint of future American military installations — rather than over all of Greenland, according to Eurointelligence.
"We should also not be complacent about the substance of the Greenland dispute," Eurointelligence wrote Friday. "The immediate threat is removed, but the issue is not settled yet."
Even limited sovereignty over base territory would still cross a political red line for both Greenland's government and Denmark, raising the risk that negotiations shift from security access to a broader dispute over territorial authority.
Rutte's intervention has, for now, defused the most acute danger to NATO cohesion, easing the immediate threat of a rupture inside the alliance, according to Eurointelligence, but the underlying conflict remains unresolved.
Greenland and Denmark might accept expanded U.S. basing rights, yet any move perceived as ceding sovereign jurisdiction — even on confined parcels — could trigger a new political backlash in Nuuk and Copenhagen.
"Well, it's really a negotiation, but it's infinity – the time limit is infinity, meaning there is no time limit, it's forever," Trump told reporters on Air Force One on the return from the high-stakes meetings this week at the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland. "You know, you hear about 99 years, 50 years. It's forever.
"That was discussed. We can do anything we want. We can do military. We can do anything we want, and it's being negotiated and let's see what happens.
"I think it would be good."
Trump's suggested "total access" claim was immediately contested by Greenland's Prime Minister Jens-Frederik Nielsen and Denmark's government, both of whom say no such deal exists and sovereignty is non-negotiable.
Nielsen said he was unsure what Trump meant by the framework and made clear that Greenland's territorial integrity remains a firm red line.
Denmark and Greenland reaffirmed that any security cooperation must respect international law and the island's status within the Kingdom of Denmark and NATO, rejecting suggestions of transferring territorial control.
"We are looking at a Guantanamo-style permanent land lease," Eurointelligence wrote. "Yesterday we wrote about the difference between freeholds and leaseholds in the UK property market, and how this is relevant to the Greenland debate.
"As a former real estate developer, Trump rejects leaseholds. But there are creative solutions, very much like in finance. In one of his few coherent sentences Trump uttered in Davos, he talked about the deal being forever.
"That would suggest to us that Rutte offered him a permanent, irrevocable leasehold.
"Formally, this would not affect Greenland's sovereignty, but it would give the U.S. quasi-territorial ownership of the land it wants to acquire within the country.
"We are not sure whether this has been agreed with the governments of Denmark and Greenland. It would constitute a de facto renunciation of sovereignty over the parts of the island to be acquired by the US."
Eric Mack ✉
Eric Mack has been a writer and editor at Newsmax since 2016. He is a 1998 Syracuse University journalism graduate and a New York Press Association award-winning writer.
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