After a conversation at the WEF in Davos, NATO Secretary General Mark Rutte found positive words for the American president’s “visions”. This withdraws the threatened punitive tariffs against Europe.
01/22/2026, 03:4601/22/2026, 03:46
Renzo Ruf, Washington / ch media
The man who can do well with Donald Trump has done it again. Mark Rutte convinced the American President on Wednesday that Greenland is not for sale – but that Trump can still achieve his goal of having a stronger American presence on the world’s largest island in the future.
Mark Rutte in conversation with Donald Trump in front of the media.Image: keystone
The NATO Secretary General confirmed this in an interview with Fox News Channel. Trump had previously said that a corresponding framework agreement was now in place. And the potential deal will last forever, he said in an interview with CNBC.
Alone: Neither Rutte nor Trump revealed any details. The NATO Secretary General announced in Davos that he had spoken to the American President not only about Greenland, but about the entire Arctic. All neighboring European states – with the exception of Russia – are prepared to better defend this part of the world in the future. This means “the president’s vision” can be implemented.
The American president wants to build a golden dome
Trump had previously reiterated that Greenland belongs to the Western Hemisphere and therefore falls under the planned “Golden Dome” missile defense umbrella. He resorted to linguistic images that at least gave the impression that he believed that the “Golden Dome” was actually a golden dome that would be built over the USA, Canada and, if necessary, Greenland.
That is of course not the case. And there is actually nothing that speaks against the USA operating several bases on the world’s largest island to shoot down enemy missiles.
But Trump wants more. It was important, he said recently, that America also owned Greenlandic territory. And over the Pituffik Space Base, the only remaining US base in Greenland, not only the American flag flies, but also the Danish flag. This is laid down in a joint agreement from 1951.
The US base in Pituffik, Greenland.Image: keystone
Rutte now apparently accommodated Trump on this point. The NATO Secretary General suggested that the Danes should cede individual, “small” areas of Greenland to the USA. The Trump government could then build new bases on this American site, as the New York Times reported with reference to NATO circles.
The two British air force bases Akrotiri and Dhekelia in Cyprus allegedly serve as a model. These still belong to the territory of Great Britain, although the Mediterranean island has been independent since 1960. Legally, Akrotiri and Dhekelia are British overseas territories.
On whose behalf did Rutte negotiate?
Rutte did not provide any details about the new framework agreement in an interview with Fox News. For the time being, it remained unclear whether the NATO Secretary General even had a mandate to negotiate on Danish territory. Trump said on CNBC: He assumes that Rutte has spoken to Copenhagen and represents the opinion of all European NATO member states.
The Fox News presenter asked him whether the American president was sticking to his demand to incorporate Greenland. The NATO Secretary General said:
“This topic was no longer brought up in my conversation with Trump.”
On the one hand, that sounds unbelievable, as the topic of Greenland dominated all the discussions in Davos. Most recently, after his conversation with Rutte, Trump announced that he would no longer impose punitive tariffs on the European states that had criticized him for his plans.
On the other hand, it perhaps explains why Rutte always manages to reach compromises with Trump. The Dutchman prefers to ignore the American president’s most provocative statements. (aargauerzeitung.ch)