Bernd Debusmann Jr.white house correspondent
President Donald Trump says the US is exploring a possible deal on Greenland after talks with NATO backed off by threatening to impose tariffs on European allies who opposed his US plans to acquire the island.
On social media, Trump offered few details about the discussion, which both he and NATO described as “very useful.”
After weeks of upsetting the transatlantic alliance with rhetoric, the US president said the meeting had laid out the “outlines” of a possible agreement.
But there was no suggestion of a deal that could meet Trump’s demand for “ownership” of Greenland, an ambition he reiterated at the World Economic Forum in Switzerland, while also rejecting military force.
Speaking on Truth Social on Wednesday the US President said: “We have laid out the framework for the future agreement with respect to Greenland and, indeed, the entire Arctic region.
“If this solution is accomplished, it will be great for the United States and all NATO nations.”
Diplomatic sources told the BBC’s US partner CBS that there has been no agreement for US control or ownership of the autonomous Danish dependent territory.
Trump said Secretary of State Marco Rubio and special envoy Steve Witkoff will “report directly” to him as negotiations continue.
“The day is ending better than it started,” Danish Foreign Minister Lars Løkke Rasmussen said in a statement.
He said: “Now, let’s sit down and figure out how we can address US security concerns in the Arctic while respecting the red lines of the Kingdom of Denmark.”
In the hours that followed, some details emerged.
After meeting with NATO Secretary General Mark Rutte in a Swiss alpine resort, Trump told reporters that a potential deal could include mineral rights.
He also said European allies could work together on Trump’s other plan for the Golden Dome defense system to protect the US from long-range missile attacks.
With Greenland’s strategic location, the US has touted the island’s vast – and largely untapped – reserves of rare earth minerals, many of which are vital to technologies including mobile phones and electric vehicles.
“This is the last long-term deal,” Trump told reporters. “It puts everyone in a really good position, especially as it relates to safety and minerals.
“This is a deal that’s forever.”
The NATO secretary general said he did not discuss the key issue of Danish sovereignty over Greenland in his meeting with Trump.
“This issue did not come up in my conversation with the president tonight,” Rutte told Fox News.
Trump had previously rejected the idea of leasing Greenland, saying “You defend ownership. You don’t defend leases.”
NATO spokeswoman Alison Hart said in a statement after the meeting between Trump and Rutte: “The dialogue between Denmark, Greenland, and the United States will move forward, with the aim of ensuring that Russia and China never gain a foothold economically or militarily in Greenland.”
However, one of the two Greenlandic MPs in the Danish Parliament questioned why NATO would have any input on the island’s mineral wealth.
Aja Chenmitz said, “Under no circumstances does NATO have the right to negotiate anything without us, Greenland. Nothing about us without us.”
According to American media, the potential plan could allow the US to build more military bases in the region.
Officials attending the NATO meeting on Wednesday told The New York Times that the blueprint for the suggested arrangement could be similar to that of Britain’s bases in Cyprus, which are part of the British Overseas Territories.
Under existing agreements with Denmark, the US can bring as many troops as it wants to Greenland. There are already more than 100 military personnel permanently stationed at its Pitufik base on the northwestern tip of the region.
Trump was threatening to impose a 10% tariff on “any and all goods” shipped from Britain to the US from February 1, rising to 25% from June 1 unless a deal is reached for Washington to buy Greenland from Denmark.
The same applies to goods from Denmark, Norway, Sweden, France, Germany, the Netherlands and Finland – all members of NATO, the defense alliance founded in 1949.
But after meeting Rutte, the US President abandoned the talk of trade war.
“Based on this understanding, I will not impose tariffs effective February 1,” Trump said in his post on Truth Social.
In his first speech in six years at the World Economic Forum in Davos on Wednesday, Trump said he was “demanding immediate negotiations” for the acquisition of Greenland, but he stressed that the US would not take the territory by force.
Trump said, “Unless I decide to use excessive force, we probably won’t get anything done. We would be invincible, but we won’t do that.” “I don’t want to use force. I don’t want to use force. I won’t use force.”
He urged world leaders to allow the US to take control of Greenland from Denmark, saying, “You can say yes and we would very much appreciate you. Or you can say no and we would remember.”
In a speech in Davos a day earlier, French President Emmanuel Macron criticized Trump’s previous threat of import taxes.
He said the “endless accumulation of new tariffs” from the US was “fundamentally unacceptable”.
Macron was among those who urged the EU to consider options for retaliating against the new US tariffs.
In his speech, Trump targeted Macron and said that France has been harassing America for decades.
The US President also took a dig at Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney, who had urged “middle powers” like Australia, Argentina and his country to come together while speaking in Davos a day earlier.
In response, the US President accused Carney of being ungrateful to America.
“Canada wins because of the United States of America,” Trump said. “Remember that, Mark, the next time you make your statement.”
