Trump Just Used a 75-Year-Old Agreement to Force Denmark’s Hand

Trump demanded Greenland and the world laughed.

Now the Pentagon just told Congress exactly how little Denmark can do to stop him.

And what the Pentagon revealed will make you furious that we ever walked away from the agreement in the first place.

Trump Moves to Reclaim Abandoned US Military Bases in Greenland

General Gregory Guillot, head of U.S. Northern Command, told the Senate Armed Services Committee on March 19 that the military wants "increased access to different bases across Greenland as we look at the increasing threat and the strategic importance of Greenland."

He told senators exactly what he's after.

The U.S. wants Narsarsuaq – a town in southern Greenland with a deepwater port.

It wants Kangerlussuaq – a southwestern airfield with runways long enough to handle America's largest military aircraft.

It wants a third location the Pentagon hasn't publicly disclosed.

Here's what nobody in Washington wants to say out loud: both Narsarsuaq and Kangerlussuaq were originally American bases.

We built Narsarsuaq during World War II. We walked away in the 1950s.

We built Kangerlussuaq during the Cold War. We handed it back to Danish and Greenlandic authorities in the 1990s.

The foreign policy establishment that called Trump reckless for wanting Greenland is the same establishment that gave those bases away in the first place.

Trump is taking them back.

The 1951 US-Denmark Defense Agreement the Other World Powers Don't Want Enforced

Here's what the foreign policy crowd missed: Washington doesn't need Denmark's permission.

The 1951 Greenland Defense Agreement grants the United States sweeping authority to build, expand, and operate military installations across the island.

General Guillot told lawmakers exactly how strong that legal foundation is.

"We don't really need a new treaty," he said. "It's very comprehensive, and it's frankly very favorable to our operations or potential operations in Greenland."

Denmark signed that agreement 75 years ago when Soviet bombers were threatening to fly over the Arctic and strike American cities.

Russia has poured resources into Arctic military infrastructure for years – nuclear submarines, icebreakers armed with cruise missiles, and a chain of bases stretching from Murmansk to the Bering Sea.

China conducted its first manned deep-sea dive under Arctic ice in 2025, has been deploying sonar systems in international waters, and its navy has conducted joint patrols with Russia in the North Pacific off Alaska's shores.

Russia has 48 nuclear-capable icebreakers.

America has one.

Trump looked at that gap in November and ordered 11 new icebreakers built. Then he looked at the map and said we need Greenland.

He was right.

Denmark Thought Resisting Trump Was Good Politics

This is the same Denmark whose Prime Minister Mette Frederiksen called snap elections earlier this year, betting her political future on standing up to Trump's Greenland ambitions.

She got the worst vote share for her party in a century.

She's now a caretaker prime minister – negotiating to stay in office while, simultaneously, her government cooperates with the base expansion under a treaty she couldn't get out of anyway.

General Guillot confirmed Denmark has been "very, very supportive" in the talks, and described the discussions with Greenland and Denmark as "very productive."

Pituffik Space Base – Greenland's only current U.S. installation – handles missile defense and early warning for the entire North American mainland.

But Pituffik sits at the island's northern tip.

The new bases give Washington a deepwater port in the south and an airfield in the southwest.

Guillot told the Senate the expanded footprint would cover what he called "the 2 o'clock approach" – Greenland's position on the eastern side of the Arctic – making it the first line of defense against cruise missiles launched from northern waters.

Russia's Arctic fleet is already there. China's vessels are already mapping it. And for thirty years, while the foreign policy establishment congratulated itself on post-Cold War cooperation, America had no deepwater port within a thousand miles of that action.

The establishment called Trump dangerous for wanting to fix that.

Now they're watching him fix it anyway.

Sources:

• Svetlana Shkolnikova, "US seeks to expand Greenland military presence in 3 areas," Stars and Stripes, March 19, 2026.
• Nicholas Slayton, "Pentagon wants to increase naval, special operations capabilities on Greenland," Task & Purpose, March 21, 2026.
• Newsmax, "Gen. Guillot: US Seeks Expanded Military Role in Greenland," Newsmax, March 19, 2026.
• "The 1951 Agreement Allowing US Military in Greenland," History, January 15, 2026.
• GB News, "Greenland: US stakes new claim to territory under secretive deal," GB News, April 1, 2026.