Overview

• On June 11, the Danish parliament ratified the December 2023 defense pact authorizing US forces to station troops and store military equipment on Danish soil.
• Relations between Copenhagen and Washington have chilled since the agreement was signed, driven in part by President Trump’s repeated interest in acquiring Greenland.
• Opposition parties and human rights groups argue the deployment grants excessive power to US forces and lacks adequate Danish oversight.
• In late March, Vice President J.D. Vance visited the Pituffik base in northern Greenland and sharply criticized Denmark’s Arctic policy.
• Proponents say the new bases will bolster NATO’s ability to counter growing Russian and Chinese activity as melting ice opens new Arctic shipping routes.