President Donald Trump said on Tuesday that Europe “has been good” and that European governments “just gave the United States the greatest gift we were ever given,” identifying that gift as Greenland weeks after a U.S.-Danish-Greenlandic defense agreement was signed, during an Election Day appearance on Fox News Channel’s Fox & Friends program as voters cast ballots in the 2026 midterms.
“Europe has been good. Remember, they just gave the United States the greatest gift we were ever given. You know what it was? Greenland,” Trump said, according to the State Department’s wording of the exchange in a State Department post that featured the same remarks. A host then described the arrangement as a military deal; Trump answered that it was a better deal, though parts of that brief exchange are unclear in the available audio.
Trump also said he planned to watch results from the White House, that a 30-day tour had drawn packed stadiums, and that those crowds would “have a big effect” on the midterms. He said the United States is “the hottest country anywhere in the world” and “the most respected country anywhere in the world,” told viewers to “look at France” and “look at Europe” as “falling apart,” and said the country needs to “keep it that way” rather than “let radical left lunatics take over.”
The remarks land weeks after Trump, Danish Prime Minister Mette Frederiksen, and Greenlandic Prime Minister Jens-Frederik Nielsen signed a September 22 agreement in New York amending the 1951 Defense of Greenland arrangement. The White House published the full trilateral text and a separate Arctic security release describing the pact.
The signed text reaffirms “the sovereignty and territorial integrity of the Kingdom of Denmark” and recognizes the people of Greenland’s right to self-determination under international law. It allows the United States to modernize and expand activities at Pituffik Space Base, to establish additional defense areas at Narsarsuaq and Mestersvig, and to seek further defense areas by mutual agreement. It also grants U.S. forces freer access, overflight, and undersea movement in and around Greenland for defense of the North Atlantic Treaty area, Greenland, and the American continent, and bars non-NATO states from establishing their own military installations or a persistent military presence in Greenland unless the parties agree otherwise.
The White House text states that the agreement “does not have an end date” and may be amended only by mutual consent. It further provides that if Greenland becomes independent, Denmark and Greenland are to ensure that the new state remains in NATO and assumes Denmark’s rights and obligations under the deal. Danish Foreign Minister Lars Løkke Rasmussen, quoted in the White House release, said the parties signed “with full respect for the sovereignty and territorial integrity of the Kingdom of Denmark and the Greenlandic people’s right to self-determination.”
In that same White House release, Trump said the agreement “gives the United States permanent control over security and all other needs on that territory” and “the complete ability to do what is necessary to defend the American continent.” Secretary of State Marco Rubio called it a deal that “permanently guarantees U.S. security interests in the Arctic at zero cost to the U.S. taxpayer.” Frederiksen called the signing “a milestone” and “an even bigger and better agreement” than the 1951 defense pact. Nielsen said Greenland remains “a steadfast friend of the United States and a part of the Western alliance.”
A day earlier, at midterm remarks from the Lincoln Memorial, Trump again framed the Greenland outcome in ownership terms. “When you add the United States and Venezuela together, and then you add Greenland, if you’d like, because we also have Greenland now, we worked out a great deal,” he said in Nov. 2 speech. “We want to thank Denmark and Europe for making that possible,” he added, saying the United States “got Greenland on an unlimited basis.”
Fox News also carried a separate midterms package summarizing Trump’s claims on Greenland, Venezuela, and other topics ahead of Election Day. The September pact expands U.S. defense rights on the island while Denmark keeps sovereignty over it.
NATO Secretary General Mark Rutte, quoted in the White House release, welcomed the signing and said greater security in the Arctic and North Atlantic “is essential for Europe and North America alike.” European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen and several allied leaders issued similar welcomes in the same compilation. The White House also quoted German Chancellor Friedrich Merz, Norwegian Prime Minister Jonas Gahr Støre, and Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni among others praising the security focus of the deal.
Trump for years has publicly discussed acquiring Greenland. The September text keeps the Kingdom of Denmark as sovereign while expanding U.S. military rights on the island, including language on a Golden Dome defense system and a requirement that contracts for defense-area goods and services go to Greenlandic sources “to the maximum extent possible.”
Trump said Europe gave the United States “the greatest gift we were ever given,” named it as Greenland, and said a day earlier that “we also have Greenland now.” The September 22 agreement published by the White House expands U.S. basing, access and defense rights on the island, carries no end date, and reaffirms “the sovereignty and territorial integrity of the Kingdom of Denmark” along with Greenlanders’ right to self-determination. Under the signed text, Denmark remains the sovereign; the description of Greenland as a gift to the United States is Trump’s.