U.S. President Donald Trump speaks prior to a bilateral meeting in Davos, Switzerland, Wednesday, January 21, 2026. Laurent Gillieron/Pool via REUTERS
CNN reported Wednesday afternoon that President Donald Trump had a "deal" with NATO over Greenland that satisfied him.
Former NATO U.S. Ambassador Nicholas Burns seemed dubious, noting, "We'll have to see about this. The devil will be in the details."
However, he noted, the "off-ramp" that international partners hoped would present itself.
"Denmark and the European Union are not going to permit the United States just to take Greenland for a price," Burns said. "And so, if the deal here is that the United States can build up our military forces on Greenland, and there's a 1951 agreement between the United States and Denmark that ... permits it and welcomes it. That might be the off-ramp."
He concluded, "It won't be Greenland being sold to the United States. It won't be, as President Trump said this morning, by force of arms. It will be a deal between among NATO members. And that's what should happen. I hope that's what this agreement means, but we'll have to see more details before we can be definitive about it."
"So, that's the obvious off-ramp here. It always made sense," he said, to work with NATO allies rather than to take Greenland by force.
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