No amount of triumphant adjectives could hide the fact that Donald Trump was backing down. In a message posted on his Truth Social network on Friday, September 18, the president of the United States announced that the dispute over Greenland with Denmark, the European Union and, more broadly, NATO had come to an end.

According to Trump, the US reached an agreement with Copenhagen and Greenland's local authorities, granting Washington "permanent control over the security" of the autonomous region. The US president declared the deal "a dream come true," and announced plans for a "large military presence" on the island. Yet, in so doing, the billionaire accepted abandoning the idea of extending American sovereignty over Greenland, a fantasy he had clung to since his first term in office. Could his ambitions break out again in the future?

The announcement came as the result of discreet diplomatic exchanges over the past six months, during which the Greenland issue faded from the headlines, overtaken by the US's war with Iran. In a late-night statement, Danish Prime Minister Mette Frederiksen welcomed an agreement that respects her country's sovereignty and local people's right to self-determination, and "strengthens our common security in the Arctic and the North Atlantic Area and therefore is great for NATO and Europe as well." Her words stood in sharp contrast to Trump's.