US President Donald Trump has stepped back from his earlier threat to impose tariffs on European allies after unveiling what he described as a new framework agreement with NATO focused on Greenland and broader Arctic security. Speaking on Wednesday, Trump said the decision to suspend the tariffs that were due to take effect on February 1 followed a bilateral meeting in Davos with NATO Secretary General Mark Rutte, held on the sidelines of the World Economic Forum.
Trump said the two sides had reached a preliminary understanding on a future arrangement governing Greenland and the Arctic region. While he publicly presented the agreement as a diplomatic breakthrough that removed the need for economic pressure on Europe, details of what the framework actually involves have only gradually begun to emerge.
According to a report by the British newspaper The Telegraph, the proposed deal would allow the United States to take control of specific parts of Greenland by designating them as sovereign base areas. Under this model, American military installations located in those zones would be treated as US territory, effectively placing them under full US sovereignty without a formal annexation of the island.
The report said the draft framework draws heavily on the so-called “Cyprus model,” referring to Britain’s long-standing arrangement with Cyprus, where the UK maintains sovereign military base areas despite the island being an independent state. A diplomatic source quoted by The Telegraph said the intention was to offer Trump a tangible deal that addressed his strategic concerns without provoking a wider political crisis.
Under the proposed arrangement, the United States would be able to conduct military operations, intelligence activities and training exercises from Greenland without needing prior approval from Denmark. The framework would also reportedly allow for limited civilian development around the bases, including potential access to rare earth minerals, which Trump has repeatedly described as strategically important.
By formally defining certain installations as sovereign US base areas, the plan is said to ease Danish fears that Washington is preparing to outright annex Greenland. Instead, it would give the United States expanded and legally grounded control over key locations while leaving the broader political status of the semi-autonomous territory unchanged.
Trump explicitly linked the framework to his decision to withdraw the tariff threat, saying the understanding reached with NATO allies made economic retaliation unnecessary. In a post on Truth Social, he said that “based upon this understanding,” the tariffs scheduled for February 1 would not be imposed, despite his earlier insistence that the US sought “right, title and ownership” over Greenland.
At the same time, Trump declined to provide a detailed explanation of the agreement’s terms, describing the question of ownership and sovereignty as “a little complex.” The Telegraph noted that the framework closely resembles Britain’s sovereign base arrangement in Cyprus, under which the UK retains full control over two strategically important military zones while allowing local residents certain rights.
The proposed deal would significantly expand on the current US presence in Greenland. While Washington already operates military facilities there and enjoys broad freedom of movement within designated defence zones, the new framework would formally establish US sovereignty over selected areas and potentially open the door to greater access to mineral-rich regions in the Arctic.
The New York Times has also reported that US, Danish and NATO officials are discussing a similar concept, under which Washington would gain sovereign control over limited parts of Greenland to strengthen its military footprint. That approach, the report said, has also been associated with Rutte’s efforts to balance US demands with European concerns.
Earlier at the Davos forum, Trump said the United States had no intention of using military force to secure Greenland, but he warned that continued resistance from allies could have consequences for NATO unity, underscoring how central the Arctic issue has become to his broader security agenda.
