NATO Secretary General Mark Rutte said on Thursday that European nations will have to increase their military presence in the Arctic region as part of a Greenland deal being negotiated by President Donald Trump.
Rutte told Reuters at the World Economic Forum that, following his Wednesday meeting with Trump, NATO must work through a plan to increase security around Greenland.
“I have no doubt we can do this quite fast. Certainly I would hope for 2026, I hope even early in 2026,” Rutte said.
Trump said on Wednesday that NATO and the United States “formed the framework of a future deal with respect to Greenland” after a “very productive meeting” with Rutte. The president added that he would suspend the additional tariffs he planned to impose on European countries that opposed his push to acquire Greenland.
“It’s a long-term deal. It’s the ultimate long-term deal,” Trump told reporters. “And I think it puts everybody in a really good position, especially as it pertains to security and minerals and everything else.” He added that there would be “no time limit” on the deal, saying, “It’s forever.”
Greenland’s rare earth minerals were also part of the framework agreement, the president said. Trump said on Wednesday, however, that rare earth minerals aren’t the main reason he wants the territory.
“Everyone talks about the minerals. There’s so many,” Trump said in Davos. “There’s no such thing as rare earth. There’s rare processing. But there’s so much rare earth. And to get to this rare earth, you got to go through hundreds of feet of ice. That’s not the reason we need it. We need it for strategic national security and international security.”
Trump has argued that the United States needs to take control of Greenland before China or Russia invades the territory. During his speech in Davos on Wednesday, Trump said he would not use military force to acquire Greenland, but added that he wanted negotiations to begin immediately.
Asked if NATO allies could trust Trump, Rutte replied, “You can always take Donald Trump at his word.”
The framework deal agreed upon by Trump and Rutte is not a finalized agreement and will only kickstart serious negotiations on Greenland, according to Trump. The president did not say whether Greenland or Denmark, which oversees the semi-autonomous territory, agreed to the framework deal.
Danish Prime Minister Mette Frederiksen said the talks moved forward on Wednesday.
“It is still a difficult and serious situation, but progress has also been made in the sense that we have now got things where they need to be. Namely that we can discuss how we promote common security in the Arctic region,” Frederiksen said.
Trump suggested that his plan for the “Golden Dome” missile defense system was also a significant point of the discussions with NATO on Greenland.
“Further information will be made available as discussions progress,” Trump added. “Vice President JD Vance, Secretary of State Marco Rubio, Special Envoy Steve Witkoff, and various others, as needed, will be responsible for the negotiations — They will report directly to me.”
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