Jacob Heinel Jensen writes that officials sold Trump the Greenland agreement as a personal success
Jacob Heinel JensenU.S. correspondent (USA-korrespondent) at Berlingske, in a signed analysis ('Analyse') on berlingske.dk
In a signed analysis published by Berlingske at 7:39 PM EDT on the day of the announcement, U.S. correspondent Jacob Heinel Jensen wrote that the wildest part is not the agreement itself but that ministers, diplomats and officials managed to sell it to Trump as a big personal success. The article's headline says Trump should not be told it is the Kingdom of Denmark that has prevailed. The quotation is a translation from Danish; only the article's opening paragraphs were readable without a subscription.
“The wildest part is not the agreement itself, which the U.S. is entering into with Greenland and Denmark. The wildest part is that ministers, diplomats and officials have managed to sell it to Trump as a big personal success for the president.”
Original text
Official statement
Analysis
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 text
About this source
Cited from the trumpstruth.org archive mirror, which shows the full text, the original post date (Friday, September 18, 2026, 05:18 pm EDT), the Truth Social status ID and the original URL https://truthsocial.com/@realDonaldTrump/117294126158197822. We could not read the original post on Truth Social. The post says the United States “has entered into an Agreement,” whereas the Danish and Greenlandic release describes an expected agreement still to be signed. The identical text was posted on Trump’s X account (separate source). This page was captured by the mirror on September 19, 2026 at 11:51 AM EDT; the mirror’s later Truth Social entries through 12:52 PM EDT that day, including the transcript of a 1:06 AM video, do not mention Greenland.
Archived copy (opens in a new tab)Official statement
About this source
Context only (supports the text before the quotation, not the quotation itself). Official English version of the release; it says the three governments are expected to sign at the UN General Assembly next week, subject to national parliamentary procedures, and that there are no further comments. The release is dated 9/18/2026 with no time shown; TV 2's live blog logged 'Statsministeriet bekræfter aftale' at 23.39 Copenhagen time.
Archived copy (opens in a new tab)Analysis
About this source
Berlingske is paywalled. Non-subscribers can see the headline, standfirst, byline and the first two paragraphs (the quoted passage). Published and modified timestamps are identical (2026-09-18T23:39:41Z). Original Danish of the quoted passage: 'Det vildeste er ikke selve aftalen, som USA indgår med Grønland og Danmark. Det vildeste er, at det er lykkedes for ministre, diplomater og embedsfolk at sælge den til Trump som en stor personlig succes for præsidenten.' The English in the record is our translation. Not archived.
Reporting
About this source
Context only, not a source for the quotation. TV 2 news summary in the same live blog; its list of open questions says the agreement's exact content has not been published and that signing is expected next week in New York.
Before the quotation
President Trump announced the agreement on Truth Social at 5:18 PM EDT on 18 September, saying it gives the United States permanent control over security and all other needs in Greenland. The Danish Prime Minister's Office then issued a release saying the three governments were expected to sign an agreement the following week, and the analysis was published at 7:39 PM EDT that evening.
After the quotation
TV 2's live blog reported the next morning that the agreement's exact content had not been made public.
How this statement is classified
The label describes this statement's response within the context above.
Why this label?
Heinel Jensen writes that officials succeeded in selling the agreement to Trump as a big personal success, and elsewhere in the analysis says the result is far from Trump's ambition to make Greenland American and that the Kingdom's sovereignty is apparently not violated, while reporting Trump's no-expiry and no-adversary-presence statements without evaluating them. The closest competing label is “Mixed or conditional”, because he also calls the outcome a success for the U.S., Greenland and Denmark. That loses because that welcome is of the outcome, is not made conditional on anything and does not endorse Trump's description, while what he says about the description itself is a dispute over what the agreement means and who prevailed.
- Recorded on
- Published here
- People and groups discussed
- Donald Trump
More from this case
Read the full caseTrump says the United States has Greenland now on an unlimited basis
“And 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. We want to thank Denmark and Europe for making that possible. ... We got Greenland on an unlimited basis.”Read statement
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
Share or embed this statement
The embed keeps its attribution link to The Dispute Index. Credit the image to The Dispute Index and link to the statement page.
Cite this record
- Publisher
- The Dispute Index
- Title
- Jacob Heinel Jensen writes that officials sold Trump the Greenland agreement as a personal success
- First published
- Last updated
- Permalink
- https://disputeindex.com/events/1207-in-a-signed-analysis-published-by-berlingske-at
Last updated marks the most recent saved version of this published statement.
The Dispute Index. "Jacob Heinel Jensen writes that officials sold Trump the Greenland agreement as a personal success". First published: 2026-09-19. Last updated: 2026-09-22. https://disputeindex.com/events/1207-in-a-signed-analysis-published-by-berlingske-at