Soldiers cross a street in Nuuk, Greenland, on January 20, 2026. (Photo by Jonathan NACKSTRAND / AFP)
NATO chief Mark Rutte and Danish Prime Minister Mette Frederiksen agreed Friday the alliance should boost work on Arctic security, after U.S. President Donald Trump backed off his threats to seize Greenland.
"We're working together to ensure that the whole of NATO is safe and secure and will build on our cooperation to enhance deterrence and defense in the Arctic," Rutte wrote on X after meeting Frederiksen in Brussels.
Frederiksen — who was to travel to Greenland to meet its premier on Friday — said "we agree that NATO should increase its engagement in the Arctic".
"defense and security in the Arctic are matters for the entire alliance," she wrote on X.
The meeting came after Trump claimed he had struck a framework deal with Rutte on Wednesday that satisfied him after he made demands to take the autonomous Arctic territory from Denmark.
Trump backed off his threats to seize Greenland and impose tariffs on NATO allies blocking him despite not making headway on his main demand for control of the island.
Details of what, if anything, was agreed have not been made public — but officials say NATO boosting security in the Arctic was part of the plan.
Frederiksen on Thursday said that NATO allies agreed on the need for a "permanent presence" in the Arctic, including around Greenland.
Members of the alliance have floated setting up a new NATO mission in the Arctic, but commanders say concrete planning has yet to start.
Officials familiar with Rutte's talks with Trump said that Denmark and the United States would look to renegotiate a 1951 pact governing American force deployments on Greenland.
That could allow Washington to boost its military footprint on the vast island, including potentially stationing parts of Trump's planned "Golden Dome" missile defense system.
NATO also said that the United States, Denmark and Greenland would negotiate on stepping up efforts to stop Russia and China gaining a "foothold" on the territory.
Trump used the alleged threat from both Moscow and Beijing to Greenland as a major justification for why he needed to take control.
