President Donald Trump wrote on Truth Social just after midnight ET on Wednesday that "Massive Oil, Gas, and Mineral Exploration is getting ready to begin in our new and beautiful Greenland!" He did not say when or how it would start, or who would carry it out.
“Any future attack on the United States will have to come across Greenland, where our Defense will routinely knock down drones, missiles, or any other form of weapon not yet even conceived,” Trump added.
A Sept. 22 agreement between the U.S., Greenland, and Denmark has been characterized by all parties as a defense pact, clearing the way for two new U.S. bases and Trump's Golden Dome missile-defense system. The text of the agreement makes passing reference to previous “minerals cooperation” and “cooperation on economic development and business promotion” between the U.S. and Greenland, but largely as an acknowledgement of the two governments’ histories.
“This agreement is historical and it is about taking shared responsibility for a secure America, a secure Greenland with mutual respect and a peaceful Arctic,” said Greenland’s Prime Minister, Jens-Frederik Nielsen, during a September event marking the signing of a trilateral agreement between the U.S., Greenland, and Denmark.
At the signing, Danish Prime Minister Mette Frederiksen said the deal respects "the territorial integrity of the Kingdom of Denmark as well as Greenland's right to self-determination." Nielsen added that "this is not only an agreement about us, it is an agreement with us."
But Trump's use of the phrase "our new and beautiful Greenland" may represent a difference in opinion, to put it mildly, on the subject of Greenland’s sovereignty. Neither Denmark nor Greenland had issued public responses to the post as of Wednesday morning.
The president had previously offered assurances that he was not interested in Greenland’s resources. In late 2025, Trump said that “We need Greenland for national security, not for minerals. We have so many sites for minerals and oil and everything." And in January, speaking with NATO Secretary General Mark Rutte in Davos, Trump said: "I want Greenland for security, I don't want it for anything else."
But these assurances did not always feel credible, given the broader context. Trump’s special envoy to Greenland, Louisiana Governor Jeff Landry, has repeatedly angered Greenlanders by openly pushing for U.S. access to the territory's oil and mineral reserves.
Greenland stopped issuing new oil and gas licenses in 2021. Fox News reported that some older licenses are still valid, but drilling needs more government approvals, and that commercially recoverable reserves have not been established.
Citing “experts,” Trump wrote that “the amount of easily available Oil is far greater [in Greenland] than that of almost any land, anywhere in the World.” But the vast majority of Greenland is covered in thick ice, making resource extraction difficult and costly.
The message from the president came amid a spree of late night video reposts. Approximately two dozen videos from the previous month were reposted after midnight on Trump’s account.