Denmark pushes back as Trump touts Greenland oil and mineral deals

Key points

• Denmark says the September 22 agreement gives US investors no preferential access to Greenland's resources.
• Trump claimed on Truth Social that massive oil, gas and mineral exploration is about to begin in Greenland.
• The deal covers US military bases and missile defence, not mining or drilling rights.

Denmark has demanded that US resource exploration in Greenland respect the island's laws after President Donald Trump said oil, gas and mineral extraction would soon begin there. The Danish Foreign Ministry said on Wednesday that last month's agreement between Denmark, Greenland and the US did not change the rules for extraction.

The ministry said the agreement does not grant US investors any preferential treatment over investors from other NATO and EU countries in access to Greenland's natural resources. In a Truth Social post, Trump called the semi-autonomous Danish territory 'our new and beautiful Greenland' and wrote that massive oil, gas and mineral exploration is getting ready to begin, without giving details.

What the agreement covers

Trump, Danish Prime Minister Mette Frederiksen and Greenland's Prime Minister Jens-Frederik Nielsen signed the 10-page agreement on September 22 on the sidelines of the UN General Assembly in New York. It ended months of tensions over Trump's threats to control Greenland.

The deal lets the US modernise and expand activities at the Pituffik Space Base in northwest Greenland and paves the way for two new military bases and Trump's Golden Dome missile defence system. It reaffirms Danish sovereignty and Greenlanders' right to self-determination, and allocates no mining or drilling rights.

It is extremely dangerous to view this agreement between the Trump administration and Denmark as something that has altered Trump's intentions.

— Jacob Kaarsbo

Mining ban and reactions

Greenland banned uranium mining and all future oil exploration in 2021. Its government is reviewing whether a Texas firm, Greenland Energy, can use permits that predate the ban. The company said in August it planned to drill for oil in 2027 at an untested basin on Greenland's east coast, although it lacked its own permit.

Danish security policy adviser Jacob Kaarsbo said Trump's comments could signal that his desire to control Greenland remains unchanged. Mikkel Olesen of the Danish Institute for International Studies told Al Jazeera that mining and exploration rights remain unclear and that US-sourced information should be taken 'with a grain of salt'. Richard Weitz of the NATO Defense College in Rome said Trump backed down and settled for less, but still got pretty much everything he wanted except formal annexation.