The US has been holding regular negotiations with Denmark to expand its military presence in Greenland, according to multiple officials familiar with the discussions, with talks between both sides progressing in recent months.
US officials are seeking to open three new bases in the south of the territory, a semi-autonomous part of Denmark, as they work to resolve a diplomatic crisis sparked by President Donald Trump when he threatened to seize Greenland by force.
Trump said in January that the US should “own” Greenland to prevent Russia or China from taking it. He said this could happen the “easy way ” or “the hard way”.
The White House confirmed the administration was engaged in high-level talks with Greenland and Denmark, but declined to comment on details of the negotiations. A White House official told the BBC the administration was very optimistic the talks were headed in the right direction.
US officials have floated an arrangement in which the three new military bases would be formally designated as US sovereign territory, according to one source with knowledge of the negotiations.
The bases would be in southern Greenland and primarily focus on surveillance of potential Russian and Chinese maritime activity in an area of the northern Atlantic between Greenland, Iceland and the United Kingdom known as the GIUK Gap, the officials who spoke to the BBC said.
The two sides have not formally agreed to anything yet and the final number of bases could change, the sources said. One of the new bases would likely be located in Narsarsuaq, on the site of a former US military base that housed a small airport.
Any other new military bases would likely also be located on sites in Greenland that have existing infrastructure such as airfields or ports, which could be upgraded at a lower cost than building new facilities, analysts said.
US officials have not raised the possibility during talks of somehow seizing control of Greenland, something that Denmark and Nato have publicly rejected.
Despite Trump’s threats, the countries have been actively working towards a deal in recent months.
The talks have been confined to a small working group of officials in Washington who have made headway negotiating outside of the spotlight while the administration has been consumed by the war in Iran.
General Gregory Guillot, the head of US Northern Command, gave a broad sense of the negotiations during congressional testimony in March. He said the US was seeking to open new bases, but the sources close to the talks described new details that paint a picture of regular high-level meetings that have progressed in recent months.
The delicate diplomatic effort is being led by Michael Needham, a senior state department official who has been tasked with crafting a deal that satisfies Trump while also respecting Denmark’s redlines around protecting its borders.
“Needham is running point” on Greenland, said a senior diplomat with knowledge of the talks. Behind the scenes, the person said, the administration is “approaching it very professionally”.
The teams have met at least five times since mid-January. Needham is usually accompanied by one or two US officials from the state department or National Security Council, several sources said. His counterparts in the room include Jesper Møller Sørensen, Denmark’s ambassador to the US, and Jacob Isbosethsen, the top Greenlandic diplomat in Washington.
Trump’s special envoy to Greenland, Republican Louisiana Governor Jeff Landry, hasn’t taken part in the negotiations and is largely absent from the diplomatic process, three sources said.
“He was supposed to be more of like a rah-rah cheerleader of the idea that we could just flex our muscles and take over Greenland as a security asset,” said a close Landry ally who asked not to be named. Landry “has never been to any of the actual talks.”
Landry’s office did not respond to a request for comment.
The US currently has one military base in Greenland, down from approximately 17 military facilities during the height of the Cold War. Pituffik Space Base is located in northwestern Greenland – it monitors missiles for NORAD but is not configured to conduct maritime surveillance.
Some current and former officials, as well as Arctic security experts, told the BBC that Washington could have advanced its interests in Greenland without threatening a Nato ally in such strong terms.
“Why threaten an ally with a military operation or invasion when what you want is something that could be negotiated quite easily?” said one former senior US defence official.
Others, however, praised the co-operation between the US and Denmark.
“Wherever the US and our allies leave a vacuum, that vacuum is often filled by China and Russia,” retired General Glen VanHerck, the head of Northern Command and North American Aerospace Defense Command (NORAD) from 2020 to 2024, told the BBC.
Behind closed doors, negotiators have sought to reach a compromise under the framework of an existing decades-old security agreement between the US and Denmark.
The 1951 pact grants the US a wide berth to expand its military operations in Greenland. The Danish government must approve any US military expansions in the territory, but Denmark has historically supported America’s military operations there and has never rejected a US request to expand its presence, Arctic security experts said.
Representatives of the Greenland government in Washington declined to comment. The US state department also declined to comment.
Trump expressed interest in the US gaining greater access to Greenland during his first term as president. But his renewed interest earlier this year set off a diplomatic crisis that highlighted tensions between Nato and the Trump administration.
