Danish Chief of Defence Michael Wiggers Hyldgaard welcomes the agreement but says he cannot comment further
Michael Wiggers HyldgaardChief of Defence of Denmark (General), answering a Wall Street Journal question on camera at the joint press conference of the NATO Military Committee Conference in Copenhagen
At the joint press conference of the NATO Military Committee Conference in Copenhagen on 19 September 2026, Denmark's Chief of Defence, General Michael Wiggers Hyldgaard, answered a Wall Street Journal question about the announced U.S.-Denmark-Greenland agreement by saying he welcomed the agreement and could not comment any more on it. He then described NATO's Arctic Sentry activity and cooperation with U.S. forces in the Arctic.
“With regards to the agreement, [inaudible] welcome the agreement, but I can't comment any more on that.”
Original video
Official statement
Reporting
Where this statement fits
Trump’s “permanent control” description of the announced U.S.-Denmark-Greenland security agreement
On September 18, 2026, President Donald Trump announced an agreement with Denmark and Greenland that he said gives the United States “permanent control over security, and all other needs, in Greenland.” Danish and Greenlandic officials initially described an expected agreement and emphasized sovereignty and self-determination. On September 22, the White House published an agreement text dated that day. It reaffirms Denmark’s sovereignty and Greenland’s right to self-determination; provides for U.S. defense areas and access under stated procedures; bars non-NATO states from establishing military installations unless the parties agree otherwise; and has no end date. The text says it enters into force only after diplomatic notice of necessary parliamentary procedures. The dispute remains over how Trump’s “permanent control” description compares with the document’s terms.
Source and context
Original video
About this source
Official upload by NATO’s International Military Staff (about 13:30 UTC on 19 September 2026) of the joint press conference of Admiral Giuseppe Cavo Dragone and General Hyldgaard, scheduled for 14:00 CEST in NATO’s media advisory. The quotation was checked against the recording, two third-party rebroadcasts of the same event (DWS News dmOJ7EeOvXI at 13:51; GBS News _uJ3AkKEEyA at 42:28), and their YouTube captions. A hesitation precedes “welcome,” and no subject pronoun is reliably audible; the quotation therefore uses [...]. He spoke English, so the quotation is his own words, not a translation. “Arctic Sentry” is confirmed by TV 2 and NATO’s Arctic security page.
Archived copy (opens in a new tab)Official statement
About this source
NATO's media advisory fixing the date, time, venue and participants of the press conference (14:00 CEST on Saturday 19 September 2026, which is 08:00 EDT, livestreamed). Used for date and role only; it contains no statement on the agreement.
Archived copy (opens in a new tab)Reporting
About this source
Danish original: 'I forhold til aftalen kan jeg sige, at vi byder aftalen velkommen, men jeg kan ikke kommentere yderligere på den, siger Michael Wiggers Hyldgaard.' Faithful translation: 'As regards the agreement, I can say that we welcome the agreement, but I cannot comment any further on it,' says Michael Wiggers Hyldgaard. This is TV 2's Danish rendering of an English answer and adds words ('kan jeg sige, at vi') that are not in the recording, so the record's quotation follows the recording. TV 2 also reports that the Wall Street Journal reporter asked for a comment on the agreement and its meaning for NATO's military perspective, that Cavo Dragone said the same, and that both highlighted the Arctic Sentry mission and continued cooperation with the U.S. military. The live blog has run since January 2025, so each entry's own timestamp is what counts.
Archived copy (opens in a new tab)Before the quotation
The NATO Military Committee was meeting at Chiefs of Defence level in Copenhagen on 18 and 19 September 2026. At a joint press conference on 19 September with the Committee's chair, Admiral Giuseppe Cavo Dragone, a Wall Street Journal reporter asked both officers about the U.S.-Denmark-Greenland agreement announced the previous evening and what it meant from NATO's military perspective.
After the quotation
Hyldgaard went on to describe NATO's Arctic Sentry activity and cooperation with U.S. forces in the Arctic, which he said would continue. Cavo Dragone answered the same question next, and TV 2 reported that he said the same.
How this statement is classified
The label describes this statement's response within the context above.
Why this label?
Asked what the announced agreement means from NATO's military perspective, Hyldgaard said the agreement is welcome and that he could not comment any more on it, and he did not address Trump's description or any term of the agreement. The closest competing label is “Defended or excused”, because welcoming the agreement is a form of approval. That loses because the welcome is a single clause he closes off in the same breath, so his own words neither affirm nor dispute the characterization, and what the recording and TV 2 both record is the refusal to say more.
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More from this case
Read the full caseTrump says the United States has Greenland now on an unlimited basis
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Rubio says Trump is fully apprised of the Greenland deal when asked whether he misunderstood it
“Yeah, I'm not sure what comments you're referring to, and I certainly haven't followed how it's been covered in Denmark. Suffice it to say we have a very good deal, one the President is fully apprised of, he understands, and is very supportive of. ... we now have an agreement in place that will exist in perpetuity that ensures not just the equities of North America, meaning the United States and Canada, but all of our partners in NATO as well.”Read statement
Scott Horton says Trump announces at rallies an intention to violate the Greenland agreement
“Trump talks about how he "got Greenland" at every rally now, and people in Greenland, Denmark and around the world take note of how he signed agreements and then announced in campaign rallies his intention to violate them. This is not a joke.”Read statement
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- Danish Chief of Defence Michael Wiggers Hyldgaard welcomes the agreement but says he cannot comment further
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The Dispute Index. "Danish Chief of Defence Michael Wiggers Hyldgaard welcomes the agreement but says he cannot comment further". First published: 2026-09-19. Last updated: 2026-09-22. https://disputeindex.com/events/1200-at-the-joint-press-conference-of-the-nato