NATO Secretary General Mark Rutte has said that Western allies will need to step up their presence in the Arctic under a framework deal with the US, a day after US President Donald Trump walked back threats to use tariffs or seize Greenland by force.
Mr Rutte told Reuters in an interview on the sidelines of the World Economic Forum meeting in Davos that it was now up to NATO commanders to work through the details of extra security requirements and that he was sure non-Arctic NATO allies would want to contribute to the effort.
“We will come together in NATO with our senior commanders to work out what is necessary,” Mr Rutte said.
“I have no doubt we can do this quite fast. Certainly I would hope for 2026, I hope even early in 2026,” he said.
Mr Trump’s ambition to wrest sovereignty over Greenland from fellow NATO member Denmark has threatened to blow apart the alliance that underpinned Western security since the end of World War Two, and reignite a trade war with Europe.
After weeks of threats, Mr Trump last night stepped back from the threat of imposing tariffs on countries opposing his plans and ruled out using force, suggesting instead that a framework deal over the Arctic island was in sight.
The agreement was negotiated with Mr Rutte, he said, and would last “forever”.
“I think it puts everybody in a really good position, especially as it pertains to security, and minerals and everything else,” Mr Trump said, hours after a speech in which he appeared to remove the threat of force to seize Greenland.
The United States and Denmark will renegotiate a 1951 defence pact on Greenland, a source familiar with the talks between Mr Trump and Mr Rutte has said.
The source said that European allies would also step up Arctic security, but insisted that placing American bases on Greenland under US sovereignty had not been discussed.
‘It gets us everything we needed,’ Trump says on vague deal around Arctic security
However, there was no sign that Mr Trump had succeeded in his repeated vow to make Greenland part of the United States.
When asked if Denmark would continue to control the territory, Mr Rutte said the subject of Greenland’s sovereignty “did not come up” in his talks with Mr Trump.
Speaking to Fox News’ ‘Special Report with Bret Baier,’ Mr Rutte gave few details of what the new status for Greenland might be, only saying that NATO would continue to work on securing the Arctic region from adversaries such as Russia or China.
Meanwhile, the NATO chief said that “there’s still a lot of work to be done”.
Mr Trump said in a social media post that he would be scrapping tariffs of up to 25% threatened against Denmark and other European allies that have sent troops to Greenland in solidarity – including Britain, France and Germany.
On his Truth Social platform, Mr Trump said that the US and NATO had “formed the framework of a future deal with respect to Greenland and, in fact, the entire Arctic Region,” and that “based upon this understanding, I will not be imposing the Tariffs that were scheduled to go into effect on February 1st”.
NATO spokesperson Allison Hart said that Denmark, Greenland, and the United States will negotiate on “ensuring that Russia and China never gain a foothold – economically or militarily – in Greenland” – a key stated concern of Mr Trump.
Watch: Trump withdrawal of tariff threat ‘good news’ – Taoiseach
Global markets that had been rattled by the rift and the threat of tariffs saw relief, with Wall Street’s key indices climbing.
Mr Trump’s threats had triggered one of the biggest transatlantic crises in decades, with warnings that he could single-handedly destroy NATO through aggression against a fellow member.
His apparent turnaround brought guarded relief in Denmark, long a steadfast US ally, where Mr Trump’s bellicose language has triggered shock and feelings of betrayal.
Read more: Taoiseach and Tánaiste welcome Trump tariff climbdown
“Trump said that he will pause the trade war, he says, ‘I will not attack Greenland’. These are positive messages,” Foreign Minister Lars Lokke Rasmussen told Danish public television DR.
Last week Mr Lokke had flown to the US and met Vice President JD Vance, only to say afterwards that the United States had not budged on seeking to control Greenland.
But Aaja Chenmitz, one of two Greenlandic politicians in the Danish parliament, questioned why NATO would have a voice on the island’s mineral wealth.
“NATO in no case has the right to negotiate on anything without us, Greenland. Nothing about us without us,” she posted.
In Nuuk, where authorities started handing out brochures on how to live through a crisis, 65-year-old pensioner Lis Steenholdt said that Greenland and Denmark had been firm that the island is not for sale.
Mr Trump has repeatedly said that the United States, the key force in NATO, deserves Greenland as it would be forced to defend the island against Russia or China, although neither country holds any claim to the island.
Addressing Davos for the first time in six years, Mr Trump called Denmark “ungrateful” but appeared to take the threat of military action off the table.
“I don’t want to use force. I won’t use force. All the United States is asking for is a place called Greenland,” Mr Trump said.
Mr Trump, 79, repeatedly referred to Greenland as Iceland in his speech.
Canada’s Prime Minister Mark Carney won a standing ovation at Davos when he warned of a “rupture” in the global order long championed by the US. French President Emmanuel Macron for his part said Europe would not be bullied.
Mr Trump attacked both leaders, mocking Mr Macron for wearing sunglasses at Davos, which the French president said was because of an eye condition.
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