By Stine Jacobsen, Jacob Gronholt-Pedersen and Tom Little
COPENHAGEN, Sept 19 (Reuters) - Denmark said on Saturday that its sovereignty over Greenland would not be compromised by a deal taking shape with the Trump administration that would allow a significant expansion of the US military presence on the Arctic island.
The United States, Denmark and Greenland said on Friday they had reached an agreement for the US to expand its military footprint in the self-governed Danish territory, while preventing
US adversaries from establishing bases there.
Key details of the agreement, including the scale of the planned buildup and whether any formal authority over foreign policy and resources would be ceded to Washington, have not yet been made public.
Denmark and Greenland expressed hope that a deal, which is expected to be signed during the UN General Assembly next week, would end months of uncertainty triggered by President Donald Trump's threats to seize control of the territory.
Trump said on Truth Social on Friday that under a deal, "the United States will FOREVER have the complete ability to do what is necessary in Greenland in order to secure and defend the security of Greenland, and the United States of America."
Danish and Greenlandic leaders sought to reassure their publics that the agreement would respect Greenland's right to self-determination and the sovereignty of the Danish kingdom.
"A time of uncertainty will hopefully give way to a binding agreement that strengthens security in the Arctic and the North Atlantic, and thereby our shared security within NATO and Europe - while respecting the (Danish) Kingdom's red lines," Danish Foreign Minister Lars Lokke Rasmussen said on Saturday.
Greenland's Prime Minister Jens-Frederik Nielsen said the proposed deal "recognizes the sovereignty and territorial integrity of our Kingdom and the right of the Greenlandic people to self-determination."
TRUMP'S VISION FOR GREENLAND DEAL
The deal "gives the United States permanent control over security, and all other needs, in Greenland," Trump said on Friday, adding that no adversary would ever be permitted to have a base or military presence in Greenland, or make sensitive investments there, without Washington's express written approval.
Trump made the announcement after Reuters exclusively reported that the US and Denmark were closing in on a deal.
"This is probably not the end of President Trump's ambitions for Greenland and certainly not the end of US strategic interest in the territory and its resources," said Mikkel Vedby Rasmussen, a political science professor at the University of Copenhagen.
If Copenhagen cedes any formal authority to Washington, it raises the question in Greenland of whether "this is the beginning of replacing the colonial relationship with Denmark with a colonial relationship to the United States," he said.
Trump's threats, which peaked in January, triggered a diplomatic crisis that strained relations within NATO and pushed Denmark and Greenland into negotiations aimed at defusing the pressure.
A NATO spokesperson on Saturday said the alliance welcomed the agreement, which would "help advance security, stability and cooperation in this vital region."
Some residents in Greenland's capital Nuuk remained sceptical about closer ties with Washington.
"Trump should stay far, far, far away from Greenland," Marianne Hansen, a 71-year-old retired chef, told Reuters in Nuuk. "He should not expect our children and grandchildren to become Americans in the future."
(Reporting by Stine Jacobsen and Jacob Gronholt-Pedersen, Additional reporting by Tim Barsoe in Nuuk and Lili Bayer in Brussels; Editing by Ros Russell)
