NEW YORK — President Donald Trump will formalize a new security agreement with Greenland that expands the United States' military presence on the island, without it becoming an American territory, during a Tuesday signing ceremony in New York, on the sidelines of a visit to the United Nations.
A White House official said Trump would meet with Danish Prime Minister Mette Frederiksen and Greenland Prime Minister Jens-Frederik Nielsen and all three leaders would sign the deal that the U.S. has promoted as a solution for Trump's desire to annex the independently-governed territory that's officially part of Denmark.
Trump said last week in a social media post that the deal "explicitly guarantees the United States the complete ability to do what it deems
is necessary in Greenland in order to secure and defend the American continent," including permanent access, basing, and unrestricted use of the Arctic territory's airspace.
"We will immediately begin the process of developing a large Military presence in the appropriate part of Greenland, of which there are many. We will work with the people of Greenland in its development and construction," Trump wrote.
The deal also prohibits American adversaries from having a military presence on or making investments in Greenland without written approval. That includes Russia and China, a State Department official said. The deal has not end date, the official said, and will remain in effect if Greenland becomes an independent country.
"This deal permanently and completely addresses our national security concerns in Greenland," Secretary of State Marco Rubio said in a statement when the deal was announced.
The U.S. plans to re-establish a Cold War-era military base in Narsarsuaq, located in southern Greenland whose population has dwindled to a few dozen people since the United States' closed its Bluie West One military base in the 1950s, and Mestersvig, a military outpost used by the Sirius Dog Sled Patrol, a Danish special forces unit, according to Reuters.
The island is the world's largest and has a population of roughly 57,000 people.
Under a 1951 agreement with Denmark, the United States government has broad power to install and maintain military equipment, facilities and personnel in Greenland.
It is not clear how the new agreement differs from that existing arrangement, which Frederiksen, the Danish prime minister, said in January "gives the United States wide access to Greenland.”
Trump caused diplomatic row with Denmark, a NATO ally, when said in January that he could take Greenland “easy way" or "the hard way,” a few days after the United States invaded Venezuela. He later said the U.S. had entered into a framework deal involving the island, without explaining what was in it.
This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: Trump backs off Greenland annexation, formalizes deal to expand US presence
