Bernd Debusmann JrWhite House reporter
President Donald Trump says the US is exploring a potential deal on Greenland after talks with Nato as he backed off threats to tariff European allies that had opposed his plans for America to acquire the island.
On social media, Trump offered few details about a meeting that both he and Nato described as “very productive”.
After rattling the transatlantic alliance with weeks of rhetoric, the US president said the discussion had led to the “framework” of a potential agreement.
But there was no suggestion of a deal that might meet Trump’s demand for “ownership” of Greenland, an ambition he restated at the World Economic Forum in Switzerland, where he also ruled out military force.
On Truth Social on Wednesday, the US president said: “We have formed the framework of a future deal with respect to Greenland and, in fact, the entire Arctic Region.
“This solution, if consummated, will be a great one for the United States of America, and all Nato Nations.”
Diplomatic sources told the BBC’s US partner CBS that there was no agreement for American control or ownership of the autonomous Danish dependent territory.
Secretary of State Marco Rubio and Special Envoy Steve Witkoff would “report directly” to him, Trump added, as negotiations continued.
Danish Foreign Minister Lars Løkke Rasmussen said in a statement: “The day is ending on a better note than it began.”
He added: “Now, let’s sit down and find out how we can address the American security concerns in the Arctic while respecting the red lines of the Kingdom of Denmark.”
In the hours that followed, some details trickled out.
After meeting Nato Secretary General Mark Rutte at the Swiss Alpine resort, Trump told reporters the possible deal could involve mineral rights.
He also said European allies could work together on Trump’s other plan for a Golden Dome defence system to protect the US from long-range missile strikes.
Along with Greenland’s strategic location, the US has spoken about the island’s vast – and largely untapped – reserves of rare earth minerals, many of which are crucial for technologies including mobile phones and electric vehicles.
“It’s the ultimate long-term deal,” Trump told reporters. “It puts everybody in a really good position, especially as it pertains to security and to minerals.
“It’s a deal that’s forever.”
Nato’s secretary general said he had not discussed the key issue of Danish sovereignty over Greenland in his meeting with Trump.
Rutte told Fox News the “issue did not come up anymore in my conversations tonight with the president”.
Trump had previously dismissed the idea of leasing Greenland, saying that “you defend ownership. You don’t defend leases.”
Nato spokeswoman Allison Hart said in a statement after the meeting between Trump and Rutte: “Negotiations between Denmark, Greenland, and the United States will go forward aimed at ensuring that Russia and China never gain a foothold – economically or militarily – in Greenland.”
However, one of two Greenlandic lawmakers in the Danish parliament questioned why Nato would have any input on the island’s mineral wealth.
“Nato in no case has the right to negotiate on anything without us, Greenland. Nothing about us without us,” Aaja Chenmitz said.
According to US media, the potential plan could allow the US to build more military bases on the territory.
Officials who attended the Nato meeting on Wednesday told the New York Times a template for the suggested arrangement might be similar to UK bases on Cyprus, which are part of British Overseas Territories.
Under existing agreements with Denmark, the US can bring as many troops as it wants to Greenland. It already has more than 100 military personnel permanently stationed at its Pituffik base in the north-western tip of the territory.
Trump had been threatening to place a 10% tariff “on any and all goods” sent from the UK to the US from 1 February, increasing to 25% from 1 June, until a deal was reached for Washington to purchase Greenland from Denmark.
The same would apply to goods from Denmark, Norway, Sweden, France, Germany, the Netherlands and Finland – all of which are members of Nato, the defence alliance founded in 1949.
But the US president abandoned talk of a trade war after meeting Rutte.
“Based upon this understanding, I will not be imposing the Tariffs that were scheduled to go into effect on February 1st,” Trump said in his post on Truth Social.
In his first speech in six years to the World Economic Forum in Davos on Wednesday, Trump said he was “seeking immediate negotiations” to acquire Greenland, but insisted the US would not take the territory by force.
“We probably won’t get anything unless I decide to use excessive force. We’d be unstoppable, but we won’t do that,” Trump said. “I don’t have to use force. I don’t want to use force. I won’t use force.”
He also urged world leaders to allow the US to take control of Greenland from Denmark, saying: “You can say yes and we will be very appreciative. Or you can say no and we will remember.”
In his own speech at Davos a day earlier, French President Emmanuel Macron criticised Trump’s previous threat of import taxes.
He said an “endless accumulation of new tariffs” from the US was “fundamentally unacceptable”.
Macron was among those urging the EU to consider retaliatory options against new US levies.
In his speech, Trump took aim at Macron, saying France had been “screwing” the US for decades.
The US president also took a swipe at Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney, who urged “middle powers” such as Australia, Argentina and his own country to band together when he spoke at Davos a day earlier.
In response, the US president accused Carney of being ungrateful to the US.
“Canada lives because of the United States,” Trump said. “Remember that, Mark, the next time you make your statements.”
