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Trump Participates in a Trilateral Signing Event — the Greenland Defense Agreement, Sep. 22, 2026

September 22, 2026 · The White House · 0:13:32

Embedded from the source channel — never re-uploaded. Watch on YouTube

What happened

President Donald Trump participated in a trilateral signing event in New York on September 22, 2026, with Prime Minister Mette Frederiksen of Denmark and Prime Minister Jens-Frederik Nielsen of Greenland, signing an updated defense agreement for Greenland. President Trump called it “tremendous for Europe and for the United States and for everybody and for Greenland,” noting that presidents had mentioned the idea for decades but “never got done.”

Prime Minister Frederiksen said the agreement succeeds the one made 75 years ago: “Today, we are signing an even bigger and better agreement, a deal that can last forever,” one that keeps adversaries from gaining “any control or significant influence in Greenland,” brings more allies into the Arctic, and respects Danish sovereignty, territorial integrity, and Greenland’s right to self-determination. Prime Minister Nielsen said the agreement “brings the 1951 defense agreement into 2026,” building on 85 years of security cooperation, and that for Greenland “this is not only an agreement about us. It is an agreement with us.”

Why it matters

Greenland’s status was one of the President’s most contested foreign-policy themes, tracked as a claim on this site’s scoreboard; this signing is the documented outcome — a defense agreement negotiated with both governments rather than a change of sovereignty. It is a first-class signing page under this hub, and the Arctic posture it sets belongs to Secretary Rubio’s and Secretary Hegseth’s records.

Scoreboard watch

This is a candidate item for the weekly scoreboard: a signed, dated agreement whose terms — allied presence in the Arctic, deterrence, and the self-determination language both prime ministers stated — are what the scoreboard will check as implementation proceeds. A White House clip of the signing (1nxmaA3H88k) is recorded as an alternate source of this page.

Sources: The White House, “President Trump Participates in a Trilateral Signing Event” (official upload, embedded above; the upload’s description names Prime Minister Mette Frederiksen of Denmark and Prime Minister Jens-Frederik Nielsen of Greenland, in New York, NY). Remarks as delivered at the signing.