Explaining the U.S. Defense Agreement with Greenland and Denmark

Under the terms of a new defense agreement between Greenland, Denmark and the United States, Greenland remains a self-governed territory of Denmark with the right to declare its independence in the future. The new trilateral agreement doesn’t go as far as giving Greenland to the U.S. Primarily, it indefinitely allows the U.S. to expand its military presence in Greenland and prevents U.S. adversaries from doing the same. But as we’ve written, the previously existing defense framework already gave the U.S. great latitude to expand military operations in Greenland. Under the new deal, activities at the U.S. base in Greenland, renamed...