| Party | Seats after March 2025 election | Stated position on the agreement | Role on November 3 |
|---|
| Demokraatit (Democrats) | 10 | Supports; leads the governing coalition | Voted in favor |
| Inuit Ataqatigiit (IA) | 7 | Supports; wants yearly reporting and oversight plans | Voted in favor |
| Atassut | 2 | Supports; cites NATO and jobs | Voted in favor |
| Siumut | 4 | Supports; wanted full renegotiation of 1951 deal, cleanup and payment | Did not take part, citing absences |
| Naleraq | 8 | Critical; wants a referendum | Sources do not attribute the seven abstentions by party |
","layout":"text"},{"role":"body","format":"markdown","text":"Seat counts come from the [Wikipedia entry on the 2025 election](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2025_Greenlandic_general_election). Positions and the account of who voted come from [Sermitsiaq's live coverage](https://www.sermitsiaq.ag/samfund/forsvarsaftalen-med-usa-er-vedtaget-i-inatsisartut/2326415), which reports that IA, Demokraatit, Atassut and one independent voted yes and that Siumut \"did not take part\" because of absent members. No outlet opened for this article says who registered the seven \"neither for nor against\" votes.\n\nThe coalition of Demokraatit, IA and Atassut holds 19 of 31 seats. Siumut left it on March 13, 2026, in a dispute over two ministers who ran for the Danish Folketing, per [ArcticToday](https://www.arctictoday.com/greenlands-siumut-party-withdraws-from-government-coalition/). Speaker Kim Kielsen sits as an independent, per [KNR](https://knr.gl/da/nyheder/naleraq-anmeldt-til-politiet-mindretalsudtalelse).\n\nThe bill nearly skipped committee. On October 12 the speaker sent it straight to a second reading; a day later, after complaints, the Presidium sent it to the Foreign and Security Policy Committee instead, [KNR reported](https://www.knr.gl/da/nyheder/usa-aftale-sendes-nu-videre-til-udvalgsarbejde). The committee majority asked for a follow-up group with all parties and a briefing at least once a year, per [Sermitsiaq](https://www.sermitsiaq.ag/samfund/forsvarsaftale-med-usa-skal-andenbehandles-i-inatsisartut-i-dag/2442730). Ritzau reports the government agreed to both.\n\n## A leak, a police report and a failed no-confidence motion\n\nThe session also produced a fight about secrecy. Foreign Minister Múte B. Egede of IA accused Naleraq of publishing confidential information in its minority statement, which described how Egede had told the committee that Greenland tried and failed to get the US to pay money, KNR reported. Speaker Kielsen announced that the Presidium had reported Naleraq to the police.\n\nNaleraq's chair, Pele Broberg, said the statement had been approved by the committee and published by the Presidium itself. \"Why won't you discuss the content of the agreement?\" he asked. Naleraq filed a no-confidence motion against Egede. It failed; the other parties said they have \"full trust\" in the minister, per a [second KNR report](https://knr.gl/da/nyheder/naleraq-erklaerer-mistillid-til-mute-b-egede).\n\n## What Greenland's government says\n\nThe coalition's case rests on recognition and security. Nielsen, who chairs the Naalakkersuisut, said at the signing that \"through the agreement, our right to self-determination as a people is recognized,\" per the [government's press release](https://naalakkersuisut.gl/Nyheder/2026/09/2209_aftale). At the New York press conference he said: \"My red lines have not been broken.\"\n\nEgede, who was premier when Trump's pressure began, told parliament at the first reading: \"Our country has been under threat. That is the reality,\" per Sermitsiaq. After the vote, he wrote on Facebook that the road had been \"a difficult one for us as a people\" and that \"this is about all of us,\" as [Al Jazeera reported](https://www.aljazeera.com/news/2026/11/3/greenland-parliament-approves-security-deal-with-us-denmark).\n\nAtassut's chair, Aqqalu C. Jerimiassen, said: \"We have to choose NATO, and it is hard to get around the USA,\" per [Sermitsiaq's roundup of party positions](https://www.sermitsiaq.ag/samfund/inatsisartut-stotter-forsvarsaftalen-men-partierne-har-forskellige-krav/2435772).\n\n## What the opposition says\n\nNaleraq, which won 24.77 percent of the vote in 2025, frames the deal as a bad trade. Its minority statement, as reported by Sermitsiaq, makes five points. No direct payment reaches the Greenland treasury. Nothing guarantees that contracts go to Greenlandic-owned firms. There are no new binding commitments on cleaning up old US military contamination. The right to be consulted is not new, because the 2004 Igaliku agreement already required it. And the deal lacks broad support, so it should go to a referendum.\n\nBroberg said at the first reading: \"The agreement turns our country's importance into rights for the USA,\" per Kristeligt Dagblad. The statement adds that Naleraq's \"criticism is directed at the agreement's concrete result for Greenland, not at the cooperation as such.\" The party also notes that an independent Greenland would still have to apply for NATO membership, whatever the agreement says.\n\n## What Denmark says\n\nDenmark's government treats the agreement as a return to order. Frederiksen said it \"recognizes and respects the Realm's sovereignty, territorial integrity, and Greenlanders' right to self-determination,\" per a [Danish Foreign Ministry post](https://um.dk/island/nyheder/aftale-groenland-danmark-og-usa/). Asked whether Trump might again demand ownership, she pointed to the preamble and said: \"We cannot give guarantees for what is said by others.\"\n\nForeign Minister Lars Løkke Rasmussen said before the signing that the deal \"respects the red lines we have set, and respects our sovereignty. It will give peace of mind,\" per [Kristeligt Dagblad](https://www.kristeligt-dagblad.dk/danmark/loekke-om-groenland-aftale-naeste-uge-kan-blive-god). He presents the bill to the Folketing. Its first reading is November 12, per [Sermitsiaq](https://www.sermitsiaq.ag/samfund/folketinget-har-sat-amerikansk-forsvarsaftale-pa-dagsordenen/2438921), with the vote on November 19.\n\nSupport in Copenhagen crosses party lines. Venstre's Troels Lund Poulsen called it \"an uncommonly good agreement.\" Conservative chair Mona Juul said it is \"unambiguously good.\" Inger Støjberg of the Danish Democrats said it is \"an agreement we can be proud of.\" Trine Pertou Mach of the left-wing Red-Green Alliance said it \"in no way changes Danish sovereignty,\" per a [Ritzau roundup](https://www.kristeligt-dagblad.dk/danmark/bred-politisk-opbakning-til-groenland-aftale-i-danmark). No Danish party opposing the deal appeared in the sources opened here. The vote falls on the day Chancellor Friedrich Merz hosts Volodymyr Zelensky and the [Coalition of the Willing in Berlin](https://567politics.com/news/germany-merz-zelensky-berlin-coalition-of-willing-summit-november-2026), a reminder that European governments are weighing their security ties to Washington on several fronts at once.\n\n## What the Trump administration says\n\nThe White House describes the same text in sharper language. Its [release](https://www.whitehouse.gov/releases/2026/09/president-trump-inks-historic-arctic-security-agreement/) says the deal gives the US \"lasting control\" over its security interests and \"permanent basing rights.\" [President Trump](https://567politics.com/politicians/donald-trump) said it \"gives the United States permanent control over security and all other needs on that territory.\" [Secretary of State Marco Rubio](https://567politics.com/politicians/marco-rubio) said it \"permanently guarantees U.S. security interests in the Arctic at zero cost to the U.S. taxpayer.\"\n\nTrump has gone further since. At a rally in Perry, Georgia, on October 24 he said: \"Denmark was so great, they gave us Greenland. You do know that, right? We already have that,\" per [ANI](https://www.aninews.in/news/world/us/donald-trump-falsely-claims-us-got-both-greenland-and-venezuela-at-georgia-rally20261025095022/). On October 31 he posted an image of Greenland as a giant aircraft carrier under a US flag, per [NordiskPost](https://www.nordiskpost.com/2026/11/03/trump-greenland-military-base-image/). NordiskPost adds that Rubio, speaking to DR, did not endorse the handover claim.\n\nNone of these claims matches the text, which says sovereignty is not ceded. The US footprint is modest: when [Vice President JD Vance](https://567politics.com/politicians/jd-vance) visited Pituffik in March 2025, the base hosted about 150 US personnel, per the Wikipedia summary of the base.\n\n## What independence advocates say\n\nThe independence debate did not start with Trump. The 2009 Self-Government Act, approved by about 75 percent of voters in 2008, recognizes Greenlanders as \"a people under international law.\" Its Section 21 says the people of Greenland decide on independence, subject to a referendum and Folketing approval, per the [Library of Congress](https://blogs.loc.gov/law/2019/06/greenlands-national-day-the-home-rule-act-1979-and-the-act-on-self-government-2009/). The agreement's preamble points to that act as the route to independence.\n\nFor independence supporters, the agreement cuts two ways. Greenland signed it as a party, and it names Greenlanders as a people. But it binds a future Greenlandic state to NATO and to the agreement itself, with no end date. Kirkegaard at PIIE argues this makes independence \"less likely.\"\n\nA [Verian poll](https://www.veriangroup.com/news-and-insights/opinion-poll-greenland-2025) for Berlingske and Sermitsiaq, run online January 22 to 26, 2025, among 497 Greenland residents aged 18 and over, asked: \"Do you want Greenland to leave Denmark and become part of the United States?\" Eighty-five percent said no, 6 percent yes, 9 percent undecided. On independence, 56 percent would vote yes in a referendum held today, 28 percent no, 17 percent did not know. Some 45 percent did not want independence if living standards would suffer. The fact-checker [TjekDet](https://www.tjekdet.dk/faktatjek/trump-kredsen-fremsaetter-igen-forkert-paastand-om-groenlaenderne-vil-vaere-en-del-af-usa) relays a researcher's caution that the sample was not fully representative and the US question bundled two issues. No 2026 poll of Greenlanders on these questions was found.\n\n**Verian poll, January 22-26, 2025: \"Do you want Greenland to leave Denmark and become part of the United States?\" (n=497)**","textStyle":"body","layout":"text"},{"role":"htmltable","html":"