There’s NO deal. But, allegedly, there is a framework! Trump admin spin, but why? TACO.
The Independent
Donald Trump claims to have hashed out the “framework” of a future deal on Greenland following weeks of threats to annex the Danish territory.
The US president emerged from talks with Nato secretary general Mark Rutte on Wednesday confident that a deal was in sight and that all parties were happy with it.
In sight? In immediate sight? A distant sight?
Denmark said it was open to dialogue so long as its borders are respected – but have notably not endorsed any aspects of the agreement briefed to the media or discussed publicly by Mr Rutte.
The shape of the arrangement was “a little bit complex”, Mr Trump said, and would have to be explained “down the line”. However, he waived his previous threat of tariffs against European allies in an apparent attempt to defuse tensions.
Mr Rutte said that Denmark would retain its sovereignty and stressed that Nato allies would have to step up on Arctic security “within months” under the framework deal currently being discussed.
Officials close to the negotiations briefed media outlets that a deal could see greater US freedom to build on the island, modelled on Britain’s overseas arrangements. But concrete details of what could form part of the deal remain scarce and there is no guarantee that Mr Trump’s demands will be accepted by Europe.
What is the deal missing?
The framework remains informal and lacks specifics. If the main challenges are, as Nato says, combatting Russian and Chinese investment and interference, the US already has the right to build bases and Denmark has countered Chinese investment in the past.
The development of the island’s mining sector is also wrapped up in red tape and opposition from indigenous people, and it is unclear how Greenland would be compensated if the US tries to extract rare minerals. The extraction of oil and gas is banned for environmental reasons
Sky News
Donald Trump’s team will act like he has achieved something with an apparent “framework of a deal” on Greenland. But be in no doubt, that’s nonsense – and the US president has inflicted serious damage to the trans-Atlantic alliance.
Donald Trump may claim there is, but that’s only because he needed a way to back down from his threats when he realised that he wasn’t going to be able to own Greenland.
“Is this just Trump’s off-ramp? No actual framework of a deal yet?” I asked one diplomat at the heart of it all.
The response: “Exactly.”
Through the “Trump whisperer”, NATO secretary general Mark Rutte, the Danish and Greenlander positions have essentially been reiterated to the American president.
During a face-to-face meeting in Davos, pre-existing commitments in the 1951 US-Denmark treaty were reemphasised and European nations re-committed to increase their own defence of Greenland.
When they did precisely this last week, by literally sending senior military officials to Greenland, Trump interpreted it as a provocation against him and issued the tariff threat.
“I’m so bored of this now…” one European ambassador told me over the weekend, such is the level of weariness over the American president’s antics.
A trio of U-turns
The day in Davos was dizzying even by Trump’s standards.
He first U-turned on the implicit threat of military action, then he U-turned on the tariff threat, and then he U-turned on the insistence that he take sovereignty of Greenland. All in the space of a day.
The penny had dropped in his head, it seems. He realised his Greenland ownership plans were more than just unpopular at home (among his own side too). They were seen as self-defeating, undeliverable and frankly mad.
U-turns and TACO’s
Importantly, though, Trump has pulled back on his proposed European 10% levies set to come into effect on 1 February and noted that the US will not take Greenland by force; both clarifications were meaningful and helped calm markets
After finding the above information- a Glenn Diesen interview came my way