Denmark sees the agreement with the U.S. on Greenland as a defeat for Trump

The agreements between the United States and Denmark on Greenland do not correspond to the goal declared by Donald Trump of making the island American; on the contrary, the agreement is a defeat for the president of the United States, Danish media believe.

"Although he himself declares it a victory, in my opinion this is a crushing defeat for Donald Trump," believes TV2 commentator Torsten Jansen. The same opinion is held by Berlingske newspaper's correspondent in the United States, Jakob Heinel Jensen. "Shh, don't tell Trump that the Kingdom of Denmark won," he writes.
The island's minister of foreign affairs, Múte Egede, emphasizes that the agreement reflects what Greenland and Denmark had demanded during the negotiations with the United States from the very beginning. "Greenland's right to self-determination and the rights of Greenland's population are recognized in accordance with international law," he said in an interview with Danmarks radio (DR).

DR political commentator Jens Ringberg calls the preservation of Danish sovereignty and the right of Greenland's population to self-determination a key aspect. "For Copenhagen and [Greenland's capital] Nuuk it is extremely important that Trump has now signed an agreement stating that he will not seize Greenland. Instead, the three parties are to cooperate on security issues in the Arctic. This goal is a common one," he emphasizes.

The New York Times (NYT), citing sources, also stated that Trump's claim about gaining control over ensuring Greenland's security was exaggerated and did not entirely accurately reflect Washington's new powers.

According to the assessment of one of the newspaper's interlocutors, the U.S. military will, "under the terms of the agreement, work together with partners in Denmark and Greenland, rather than establish control over them." As a State Department representative told the newspaper, the agreement prohibits countries that are not members of NATO from building bases or maintaining a military presence in Greenland. Since its territory is part of the North Atlantic Alliance, the likelihood that any country outside the bloc would build a base there was extremely low to begin with, the NYT emphasizes.
The agreement with the United States will remain in force if Greenland becomes independent in the future, the publication's source in the State Department indicated.

Earlier, Donald Trump stated that the United States and Denmark had reached an agreement on the transfer to Washington of control over ensuring Greenland's security. Trump noted that the United States would immediately begin building up its military presence in Greenland, and that America's adversaries would not be able to place military bases on the island.

Source: TASS