Denmark says the agreement puts Arctic security under the watch of the North Atlantic Treaty Organization, the military defence alliance, rather than leaving it solely to the US and Denmark.
The deal follows months of pressure from US President Donald Trump, who has long said he wants the US to control Greenland and had at times refused to rule out military or economic force to acquire the semi-autonomous Danish territory.
Trump’s threats, which peaked in January, triggered a diplomatic crisis within NATO and pushed Denmark and Greenland into negotiations with Washington aimed at defusing the pressure.
During the Cold War, the US maintained 17 military installations and more than 10,000 personnel in Greenland. Today only Pituffik Space Base remains, with some 150 US military personnel.
