Trump signed the Greenland agreement on Tuesday, so what's in it?

Satellite image of Greenland.

President Trump, Denmark Prime Minister Mette Frederiksen and Prime Minister Jens-Frederick Nielsen of Greenland all signed the Greenland security deal announced late last week by Trump. The trilateral signing came at the U.N. General Assembly in New York City on Tuesday. 

“This is tremendous for Europe and for the United States and for everybody,” Trump said just prior to signing the deal. “And for Greenland, it’s going to be incredible.” So what's in the deal? Here are a few of the key highlights.

Greenland will remain a semi autonomous territory of Denmark, meaning it won't be acquired as a U.S. territory or state as Trump had suggested the U.S. wanted. However, the U.S. will have sole military control over the Arctic Island in perpetuity. A previous agreement signed in 1951 gave the U.S. a significant presence in Greenland, but the agreement would've expired if NATO collapsed. The new deal remains in effect even if NATO ceases to exist at some point in the future or if Greenland at any point declares independence from Denmark. 

The deal also gives the U.S. veto power over any non-NATO country that may try to establish any military presence there, according to Arnaud Bertran, who lauded the agreement. 

Under the terms of the deal, the U.S. will begin building two military bases, in addition to the Pituffik Space Force base that already exists in Southern Greenland. One base will be built elsewhere in southern Greenland and another in eastern Greenland. The U.S. will also be able to upgrade the base at Pituffik. According to The Associated Press, the deal allows the U.S. to "establish additional defense areas in Greenland and strengthen its military operations or facilities.”

The agreement acknowledges that “the security situation in the Arctic is changing and that more efforts are needed to ensure security there in the future," and also gives the U.S "undersea access" in the waters off Greenland for military activities and unfettered ability to move across the Arctic island. 

"This deal is good for the United States, it's good for Greenland, for Denmark, for the NATO alliance, and therefore also good for Europe," Frederiksen, the Danish P.M. said, according to Fox News. "In other words, we are strengthening our common security, boosting our common deterrence, showing our adversaries who we are, and we are doing it together."

Below, watch a highlight from the agreement signing.