Lars Løkke Rasmussen hopes next week brings a binding Greenland agreement respecting the Kingdom's red lines
Lars Løkke RasmussenDanish Minister for Foreign Affairs and political leader of Moderaterne, in a post on his own Instagram, Facebook and LinkedIn profiles (his X and Instagram bios say the profiles are not kept in his ministerial capacity)
In a Danish-language post on his social media profiles, Foreign Minister Lars Løkke Rasmussen wrote that next week could be a good week for Greenland, Denmark and the USA, and that a long period of uncertainty would hopefully be replaced by a binding agreement strengthening security in the Arctic and the North Atlantic, with respect for the Kingdom's red lines. The quotation is our English translation of the Danish original.
“Next week could be a good week… For Greenland, Denmark and the USA alike. Where a long period of uncertainty is hopefully replaced by a binding agreement that strengthens security in the Arctic and the North Atlantic and thus also our shared security in NATO and Europe - with respect for the Kingdom's red lines.”
Original post
Original post
Original text
Official statement
Reporting
Reporting
Other statements by Lars Løkke Rasmussen in this case
- Rasmussen says the agreement respects Denmark's sovereignty and Greenlandic self-determinationLater: Challenged the characterization
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 post
About this source
Post by Lars Løkke Rasmussen, published September 19, 2026, 08:14:20 UTC; the Danish original below is one contiguous span of the post text. The same text is on his Instagram, Facebook and LinkedIn profiles; TV 2 saw the Instagram version by 07:43 UTC, so this LinkedIn copy is a later cross-post. The quotation is our English translation. Original Danish: 'Næste uge kan blive en god uge… For både Grønland, Danmark og USA. Hvor lang tids usikkerhed forhåbentlig erstattes af en bindende aftale, der styrker sikkerheden i Arktis og Nordatlanten og dermed også vores fælles sikkerhed i NATO og Europa - med respekt for Kongerigets røde linjer.' The posted text reads 'Hvor lang tids usikkerhed' (apparently 'Hvor' as a relative adverb continuing 'a good week'); it is translated as 'Where a long period of uncertainty ...'. The post ends with one more sentence, not quoted.
Archived copy (opens in a new tab)Original post
About this source
Its text matches the LinkedIn text word for word (NATO capitalised). The page showed only a relative time ('5 hours ago' at about 13:10 UTC), and we could not find an exact posting time. Ritzau's report (published by Sermitsiaq and others) names Facebook as the platform.
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 source for the text before the quotation, not a source of the quotation. Official English version of the joint release; the Danish original is on stm.dk.
Reporting
About this source
TV 2 says the words are from an Instagram post carrying a photograph from his early-2026 visit to Washington. Its printed quotation stops after 'NATO og Europa' and omits the red-lines clause, so it is not the source of the quoted span; it corroborates the wording and the time (07:43 UTC, before the LinkedIn copy). The live blog dates from 2025-01-06, so each entry has its own timestamp.
Reporting
About this source
AP text as syndicated by WRAL (published 09:38 UTC, updated 13:28 UTC). AP gives its own English rendering of the same post and says he wrote it on Instagram on Saturday morning; its rendering drops the word 'long' and, in this copy, the red-lines clause, so our translation follows the Danish original. It also states the deal has not yet been made public.
Before the quotation
On the evening of 18 September 2026 (U.S. Eastern time), President Trump announced on Truth Social an agreement with Denmark and Greenland that he said gives the United States permanent control over security and all other needs in Greenland. A joint release from the Danish Prime Minister's Office and the Government of Greenland said the three governments were expected to sign an agreement the following week at the UN General Assembly, after which it would need to pass the necessary national parliamentary procedures.
After the quotation
TV 2 reported the post at 09.43 Copenhagen time as his first reaction to the news, and AP reported it later that day, noting that the agreement had not yet been made public.
How this statement is classified
The label describes this statement's response within the context above.
Why this label?
Løkke Rasmussen welcomes the prospect of a binding agreement that strengthens Arctic and North Atlantic security, but he words it as a hope ('hopefully') and makes it 'with respect for the Kingdom's red lines', and he does not mention Trump's description. The closest competing label is “Defended or excused”, because he welcomes the prospective agreement. That loses because his welcome is hedged and tied to the red-lines condition, and he does not affirm Trump's description of permanent U.S. control.
- Recorded on
- Published here
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
- Lars Løkke Rasmussen hopes next week brings a binding Greenland agreement respecting the Kingdom's red lines
- First published
- Last updated
- Permalink
- https://disputeindex.com/events/1209-in-a-danish-language-post-on-his-social
Last updated marks the most recent saved version of this published statement.
The Dispute Index. "Lars Løkke Rasmussen hopes next week brings a binding Greenland agreement respecting the Kingdom's red lines". First published: 2026-09-19. Last updated: 2026-09-26. https://disputeindex.com/events/1209-in-a-danish-language-post-on-his-social