It is hard to imagine what was going through the minds of the Danish soldiers as they packed explosives and bags of blood to send both to Greenland this past January.

They were preparing to blow up the runways in Nuuk and Kangerlussuaq so the enemy couldn’t land there and to treat comrades wounded in combat.

And the enemy … that was the United States. Our longtime ally, and Denmark’s armed forces had told the Danes to return fire if they were attacked.

That’s how insane and frightening things had become in the days when Denmark’s biggest security crisis since World War II reached its peak.

Ordinary people in Greenland, the Danish military, and our intelligence services all saw it as a possibility that the United States might invade part of the Kingdom of Denmark.

And now it may be over. At least if you believe the flurry of messages that have zipped across the Atlantic in recent hours.

An agreement has been reached between the United States, Greenland, and Denmark: a piece of paper that, apparently, all three capitals can live with, and that will be signed at the United Nations General Assembly next week.

Nothing has been signed yet, and most of what we know about the deal comes from Donald Trump, who has a habit of overselling his accomplishments.

But with that caveat, the agreement looks like a soft landing after an exceptionally hard conflict: Greenland and Denmark still decide most things on the vast island, and the Kingdom remains intact.

The Americans get certain military and economic assurances, and Donald Trump gets to look like a winner – especially if one forgets that what he wanted was to own Greenland.

An infinite agreement

It was Trump himself who first broke the news on his own platform, Truth Social, late Friday night as Denmark was heading for the weekend.

»This is a dream come true for the United States of America, one that is very important, historic, and special«.

He also wrote that the United States had seen its dreams fulfilled with an agreement with »infinite life« that removes all the concerns Americans have had. And that he now wants to send more soldiers to Greenland:

»We will immediately begin the process of developing a large Military presence in the appropriate part of Greenland, of which there are many«.

Then Trump turned on the charm:

»We look forward to working with the wonderful people of Denmark and Greenland toward a magnificent future«.

What Donald Trump didn’t write is that for more than 70 years he has had the option of sending more troops to Greenland, if he wanted to.

Since 1951, an agreement has given the United States »free access to and movement between the defense areas throughout Greenland, including the territorial waters, on land, at sea, and in the air«.

The Americans simply had to ask first, and nothing has suggested that Denmark or Greenland would say no.

In March, the head of U.S. Northern Command was questioned about Greenland in the Senate, and he said that the Americans would like to expand their presence, and that both Denmark and Greenland »are very cooperative.«

According to the BBC, the agreement will also apply if Greenland one day becomes fully independent.

A new veto for the United States

The most striking element is that the agreement apparently gives the United States veto power over Greenland’s cooperation with other countries.

»From now on, no U.S. adversary can EVER have a base in Greenland, have a military presence in Greenland, or make sensitive investments in Greenland, without our express written approval«, Donald Trump writes on Truth Social.

According to Politiken’s information, those very economic ties in Greenland have been a difficult subject in negotiations behind closed doors.

The 1951 defense agreement meant that it was easy to say yes to an American request to send more troops to Greenland. But the United States also wanted a guarantee that other countries couldn’t buy their way into influence in the Arctic.

China has tried to invest in airports and a former naval base, but was turned away. That back door is one the United States wants shut and locked, with the key kept in Washington.

Whether Denmark and Greenland share Trump’s interpretation of the economic portion of the agreement will become clear in the days ahead. This, in particular, is where Greenlanders could find themselves squeezed in their desire to control their own country, and that part of the deal will need to be read with a magnifying glass once it leaves the negotiating room.

»»We’re going to get it«

For now, positive signals are coming from the Kingdom.

Prime Minister Mette Frederiksen writes in a press release: »I am glad that we are about to make a great agreement, (...) which at the same time recognizes the sovereignty and territorial integrity of the Kingdom and the Greenlandic people’s right to self-determination.«.

And Greenland’s leader and chairman of Naalakkersuisut, Jens-Frederik Nielsen, notes:

»The agreement recognizes Greenland’s interests and our place in the international cooperation. It is to the benefit of us all«.

What you can’t hear in a press release is the sigh of relief that has also spread through Nuuk and Copenhagen.

There, they are happy to let Donald Trump take a victory lap on social media, as long as the two countries are left in peace.

Denmark’s foreign minister, Lars Løkke Rasmussen, writes simply on Facebook that »next week could be a good week«.

Because the agreement lifts enormous pressure off Denmark and Greenland, which have fought with every tool available since Trump, in December 2024, began dreaming out loud about owning the country he regarded as a piece of land that could be bought. Or conquered.

As a newly inaugurated president, he would not rule out using military force to get his hands on Greenland, and in March 2025 Donald Trump said this to Congress:

»We need Greenland. And I think we’re going to get it. One way or another, we’re going to get it«.

A victory for the out-of-breath diplomat

The remark made lawmakers in Congress laugh, but it left Greenlanders, Danes, and Europeans frightened and furious.

When the United States took control of Venezuela this January and removed the country’s leader, Nicolás Maduro, the idea of an American invasion of Greenland began to seem less unthinkable.

That was when the Danish soldiers – as revealed by DR – flew north prepared for the worst. And that was when a number of European countries sent their own troops to Nuuk, quite literally to show the flag and demonstrate support for Greenland and Denmark.

It looked like the beginning of the end for NATO, which had never survived a conflict between the alliance’s strongest country and a number of other member nations. Everything would, in Mette Frederiksen’s words, »stop« – including the Kingdom itself.

That is why so many Danes were glued to their television screens when Denmark’s foreign minister, Lars Løkke Rasmussen, and his Greenlandic counterpart, Vivian Motzfeldt, met on Jan. 14 with the U.S. secretary of state, Marco Rubio, and Vice President JD Vance.

When Lars Løkke Rasmussen, with cameras rolling, bolted outside and grabbed a cigarette, it was clear that room had now been created for negotiations.

A working group where the three countries could meet behind closed doors and find a common language, while their political leaders could still talk tough if someone shoved a microphone in their faces.

For the process, it was important to avoid a direct confrontation between Donald Trump and Mette Frederiksen, who do not have the best relationship.

In 2019, the Danish prime minister called Trump’s idea of buying Greenland »absurd«, and Trump said he thought that statement was »nasty«, or disgusting.

According to The Washington Post, the two had a brief exchange at the NATO summit in July. As they passed each other walking away from the mandatory group photo, Mette Frederiksen approached the American president:

»Donald, you’re not getting Greenland«, the Danish prime minister is said to have told him, to which Trump replied: »OK, we’ll see«.

Denmark’s Prime Minister’s Office has no comment on the episode. According to Politiken’s sources, Trump and Frederiksen did speak, but the words were not said as reported in The Washington Post.

But in any case, the two leaders’ temperaments were not supposed to be part of the diplomatic negotiations, which have moved forward over the past several months, and have now ended in an agreement.

It looks like a win for the diplomats and for the Europe that stood together in those frantic days in January.

Because Donald Trump did not get Greenland. He got only an agreement and the chance to tell his voters that he won.