In Closed-Door Talks, U.S. Demands a Major Role in Greenland

Greenlandic officials worry about the direction of the negotiations aimed at defusing President Trump’s threats to seize their island. But they have little leverage.

Ilulisaat, Greenland, a town where a Chinese state company nearly won a contract to build an airport in 2018. After U.S. officials pressured Denmark to step in, Greenland opted for a Danish company.Credit...Ivor Prickett for The New York Times

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* The United States is trying to modify a longstanding military arrangement to ensure American troops can stay in Greenland indefinitely, even if Greenland becomes independent. The notion is basically a forever clause, and Greenlanders do not like it.

* The United States has pushed the talks beyond military matters and wants effective veto power over any major investment deals in Greenland to box out competitors like Russia and China. Greenlanders and Danes strongly object to this.

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The American demands are so steep, Greenlandic officials fear, that they amount to a major imposition on their sovereignty. Despite all of the talk from Danish and American officials that Greenland’s future is up to the island’s 57,000 people, Greenlandic officials said the American demands would tie their hands for generations.

If the Americans get everything they want, said Justus Hansen, a member of Greenland’s Parliament, there will never be any “real independence.”

“We might as well raise our own flag halfway,” he said.

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https://www.nytimes.com/2026/05/18/world/europe/us-greenland-talks-trump.html