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US in closely watched talks to open new bases in Greenland

2026-05-12 15:59:00, Kosova & Bota CNA

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 the two sides progressing in recent months.

US officials are looking 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 invade 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 that the administration was engaged in high-level talks with Greenland and Denmark, but declined to comment on the details of the negotiations.

A White House official told the BBC that the administration was very optimistic that the talks were going in the right direction.

Denmark has previously expressed a willingness to discuss additional US military bases on the island, and its foreign ministry confirmed that talks with the US were underway. "There is an ongoing diplomatic track with the United States. The Ministry of Foreign Affairs will not go into further details at this time," a spokesman said.

US officials have proposed a deal under which the three new military bases would be formally designated as sovereign US territory, according to a source with knowledge of the negotiations.

The bases will be in southern Greenland and will focus primarily on monitoring potential Russian and Chinese naval activity in an area of ??the North Atlantic between Greenland, Iceland and the United Kingdom known as the GIUK Gap, officials who spoke to the BBC said.

The two sides have not yet formally agreed on anything, and the final number of bases could change, the sources said. One of the new bases is likely to be located in Narsarsuaq, on the site of a former US military base that housed a small airport.

Any other new military bases would also likely be located in places in Greenland that have existing infrastructure such as airfields or ports, which could be improved at a lower cost than building new facilities, analysts said.

US officials have not raised during the talks the possibility of somehow taking control of Greenland, something that has been publicly rejected by Denmark and the NATO military alliance of which it is a member.

Despite Trump's threats, the countries have been actively working towards an agreement in recent months.

The talks have been limited to a small working group of officials in Washington, who have made progress in negotiations out of the spotlight while the administration has been consumed by the war in Iran.

General Gregory Guillot, head of US Northern Command, gave a broad overview of the negotiations during testimony to Congress in March. He said the US was looking to open new bases, but sources close to the talks described new details that give a glimpse of the regular high-level meetings that have progressed in recent months./CNA, translated by BBC