Trump Mocked After Landing ‘Status Quo’ Greenland Deal

Donald Trump’s “historic and special” Greenland deal has already been met with mockery in Denmark.

He insisted its Arctic location was essential for defence against rivals like China and India – and expressed interest in the island’s mineral wealth.

Trump threatened to take it by force, even though the semi-autonomous territory belongs to the Kingdom of Denmark which is a Nato ally like the US.

But he suddenly announced on Friday evening that he had reached a new deal with Denmark and Greenland to give America “permanent control of security” on the Arctic island and resolve “all of our many US concerns”.

He claimed it would come at “no cost to the United States” and that America would be able to “do what is necessary” to “secure and defend the security of Greenland”.

The president said no US adversary would be able to maintain a military presence in Greenland or “make sensitive investments in Greenland without our express written approval”.

Trump wrote on TruthSocial: “This is a dream come true for the United States of America, one that is very important, historic, and special.

“At my direction, we worked with representatives of Denmark and Greenland to guarantee that the United States will FOREVER have the complete ability to do what is necessary in Greenland in order to secure and defend the security of Greenland, and the United States of America.”

Nato said the deal would stabilise the region, while Denmark’s prime minister Mette Frederiksen and Greenland’s prime minister Jens-Frederik Nielsen said the deal “strengthens our common security”.

The agreement is expected to be signed next week at the UN General Assembly but the details are yet to be released.

It’s currently unclear how the agreement is different from the US’s 1951 deal with Denmark which allowed America to send as many troops as it wants to Greenland.

No territory is expected to actually change hands.

So, unsurprisingly, Trump is already being mocked over his claim that this is a “dream come true”.

Danish newspaper Berlingske ran with the headline: “Don’t tell Trump that it’s the Kingdom of Denmark that has won.”

A Danish member of the European Parliament for the Liberal Alliance, Henrik Dahl, also suggested the deal had not really changed anything.

“A wise Danish politician once said that you can achieve almost anything if you are willing to let others take the credit,” he said.

“So let us give Donald Trump the credit for something very close to the status quo. From a Danish and Greenlandic perspective, it could hardly be much better.”

Meanwhile, US commentator for broadcaster TV2, Torsten Jansen, said: “Even though Trump is trying to blare it out as a victory, it is, as I see it, a spectacular defeat.”

“In terms of rights, they [the US] were already allowed quite a lot under the original agreement,” Mikkel Runge Olesen, a researcher at the Danish Institute for International Studies in Copenhagen.

He told the New York Times: “Is there anything here that one could not have achieved without this crisis?”

Danish commentator Sophie Plutz also told LBC: “It does sound like the Americans have accepted a re-packaging of old deals and agreements, but overall there’s not a lot of new stuff in here.”

Watch reactions from people in Denmark and Greenland here:

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