Current US-Greenland-Denmark settlement excludes mining or drilling rights whereas reinforcing Greenland’s sovereignty.
Printed On 14 Oct 2026
Denmark has demanded that US useful resource exploration in Greenland respect the island’s legal guidelines amid President Donald Trump’s declare that oil, fuel and mineral extraction will quickly start there.
The Danish Overseas Ministry reaffirmed on Wednesday that final month’s settlement between Denmark, Greenland and the US didn’t alter the principles for extraction.
Beneficial Tales
checklist of three gadgetsfinish of checklist
The settlement “doesn’t grant traders from the US any preferential therapy” over traders from different NATO and EU nations with regards to entry to pure sources in Greenland, the ministry mentioned.
In a publish on Fact Social, US President Trump referred to as the semi-autonomous Danish territory “our new and exquisite Greenland”.
“Large Oil, Gasoline, and Mineral Exploration is on the brink of start,” he wrote, with out offering particulars.
What the deal covers
Trump, Danish Prime Minister Mette Frederiksen and Greenland’s Prime Minister Jens-Frederik Nielsen signed the 10-page settlement on the sidelines of the United Nations Normal Meeting in New York on September 22, ending months of tensions over Trump’s threats to regulate Greenland.
The deal permits the US to “modernise and increase” its actions on the Pituffik Area Base, a distant US navy set up in northwest Greenland.
It additionally paved the best way for 2 new navy bases and Trump’s “Golden Dome” missile defence system, whereas reaffirming Danish sovereignty and Greenlanders’ proper to self-determination.
It didn’t allocate any rights for mining or drilling.
Greenland’s ban
Greenland banned uranium mining and all future oil exploration in 2021.
Its authorities is reviewing whether or not a Texas agency, Greenland Power, can use permits that predate the ban.
The corporate mentioned in August it deliberate to drill for oil in 2027 at an untested basin on Greenland’s east coast, though it lacked its personal allow.
Danish safety coverage adviser Jacob Kaarsbo mentioned Trump’s feedback may sign that his want to regulate Greenland stays unchanged.
“This can be very harmful to view this settlement between the Trump administration and Denmark as one thing that has altered Trump’s intentions,” he mentioned.
Mikkel Olesen, a senior researcher on the Danish Institute for Worldwide Research, advised Al Jazeera that particulars relating to mining and exploration rights remained unclear and that data coming largely from the US facet must be taken “with a grain of salt”.
Richard Weitz, a fellow on the NATO Protection Faculty in Rome, mentioned Trump “backed down and settled for much less” than he sought, however nonetheless “acquired just about all the things he wished, besides formal annexation”.
