President Donald Trump has intensified his public focus on Greenland, arguing that U.S. control is necessary for national security, even as existing agreements already give Washington sweeping military access without the need to buy or seize the territory, experts told The New York Times on Wednesday.
"We need Greenland from the standpoint of national security," Trump said recently, fueling renewed tension with Denmark and Greenland's semiautonomous government as administration officials privately floated ideas ranging from purchasing the island to asserting U.S. control outright.
But security experts and Danish officials note that under a little-known Cold War-era defense agreement, the U.S. already enjoys extensive authority to operate militarily across Greenland. The 1951 defense pact between the U.S. and Denmark allows American forces to construct, maintain, and operate military bases; station personnel; and control air and sea movements throughout the island.
"The U.S. has such a free hand in Greenland that it can pretty much do what it wants," Mikkel Runge Olesen, a researcher at the Danish Institute for International Studies, told The New York Times. "I have a very hard time seeing that the U.S. couldn't get pretty much everything it wanted — if it just asked nicely."
But while Trump has suggested Greenland should fall under U.S. control, experts say buying the island is legally impossible. Greenlanders have the right to self-determination, and Denmark lacks authority to sell the territory.
Greenland's Prime Minister Jens-Frederik Nielsen said "Our country is not for sale." Danish Prime Minister Mette Frederiksen cited the existing defense pact, saying it already grants the U.S. "wide access to Greenland" and warned that threats against the island would undermine the international order.
The defense agreement was updated in 2004 to formally include Greenland's government, requiring U.S. consultation before making "significant changes" to military operations.
Even so, Danish defense analysts acknowledge the U.S. would face little resistance if it sought to expand its footprint through normal channels.
"If the U.S. wanted to act without asking, it could simply inform Denmark," said Peter Ernstved Rasmussen, a Danish defense analyst. "In practice, the U.S. would always get a yes."
That reality has frustrated some Danish officials, who question why Trump has escalated rhetoric instead of invoking the existing framework.
"The mechanism is there. It's in place," said Jens Adser Sørensen, a former senior official in Denmark's Parliament. "Why don't you use it if you're so worried about security?"
Beyond military concerns, Greenland's vast reserves of critical minerals have drawn interest from Trump's allies. Analysts say those resources, too, could be accessed through commercial agreements rather than territorial control — an option Greenland's leaders say they are open to pursuing.
Brian Freeman ✉
Brian Freeman, a Newsmax writer based in Israel, has more than three decades writing and editing about culture and politics for newspapers, online and television.
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