President Donald Trump opened his speech to world leaders at the World Economic Forum event in the mountain resort of Davos, Switzerland, by boasting about his record on the economy and telling Europe it was not going "in the right direction."
Trump arrived in Switzerland with European officials and business leaders on edge because he is expected to press his case to expand the territory of the United States in the biggest way in decades by acquiring Denmark's Greenland territory.
"Would you like me to say a few words of Greenland?" Trump asked the audience, partway through his speech, to scattered laughter in the audience. "I was going to leave it out of the speech, but I thought, I think I would have been reviewed very negatively."
He added: "I have tremendous respect for both the people of Greenland and the people of Denmark. Tremendous respect. But every NATO ally has an obligation to be able to defend their own territory. And the fact is, no nation or group of nations is in a position to be able to secure Greenland, other than the United States. We're a great power. Much greater than people even understand. I think they found that out two weeks ago in Venezuela."
Trump is joining European leaders he publicly mocked for trying to check his ambitions to take control of Greenland. His trip to Switzerland comes in the wake of an aggressive social media blitz he launched trolling NATO allies. He shared on Truth Social messages from French President Emmanuel Macron that said, "I do not understand what you are doing on Greenland" and posted an AI image of himself planting an American flag on Greenland.
Trump is threatening to impose a 10% tariff on "any and all goods" imported to the U.S. from eight European countries, effective Feb. 1, if he doesn't get his way. European officials say they are ready to push back, threatening a new trade war. Trump has said that the tariff would increase to 25% on June 1 if a deal to purchase the Arctic island is not reached.
NATO leaders have also warned that Trump's Greenland strategy, if it ends in a military action − which he has not ruled out − could upend and even end the alliance that has underpinned Western security since the end of World War II. Trump has publicly linked his interest in Greenland to his anger at not receiving a Nobel Peace Prize. He has also said the U.S. needs the island because of encroaching regional threats from China and Russia.
Greenlandic and Danish officials have repeatedly said in increasingly strident language that Greenland is not for sale. And the vast majority of Greenlanders, polls show, do not want to become part of the United States.
"We do not want to be Americans," Greenland's business minister Naaja Nathanielsen said on Jan. 21.
Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney used his address in Davos to tell countries less powerful than the United States that they "must act together" because the "old order is not coming back." Carney did not mention Trump by name but the subtext of his speech appeared squarely aimed at Trump's approach to Greenland.
Trump said he would build a golden dome over Greenland that would also defend Canada, another NATO ally that he cast as ungrateful.
"Canada gets a lot of freebies from us, by the way. They should grateful also, but they're not," Trump said.
Trump said he saw Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney's speech at the international economic forum on Tuesday, before he arrived in Switzerland.
"I watched your prime minister yesterday. He wasn't so grateful. But they should be grateful to us, Canada. Canada lives because of the United States. Remember that, Mark, the next time you make your statements."
President Donald Trump appeared to rule out taking Greenland by force in his Davos speech. "I'm seeking immediate negotiations to acquire Greenland," Trump told leaders at the World Economic Forum event, adding, "We probably won't get anything unless I decide to use excessive strength and force, where we would be frankly unstoppable, but I won't do that."
"I don't have to use force. I don't want to use force. I won't use force. All the United States is asking for is a place called Greenland, where we already had it, as a trustee, but respectfully returned it back to Denmark not long ago, after we defeated the Germans, the Japanese, the Italians and others in WWII. We gave it back to them. We are a powerful force then, but we are a much more powerful force now."
Trump argued to European political and business leaders that his demand for control of Greenland is a small request after U.S. contributions to the continent’s defense as part of NATO.
“What I’m asking for is a piece of ice, cold and poorly located that can play a vital role in world peace and world protection,” Trump said. “It’s a very small ask for what we’ve given them for many, many decades.”
Trump told European leaders the United States needs to acquire Greenland from Denmark for national security because it is the only country that could defend the Arctic island from enemies such as Russia and China.
“The fact is no nation or group of nations is in any position to be able to secure Greenland other than the United States,” Trump said.
Trump said Denmark fell to Germany in six hours at the start of World War II, but that the United States defended Greenland against invasion.
“We saved Greenland and successfully prevented our enemies from gaining a foothold in our hemisphere,” Trump said. “Without us, right now you’d all be speaking German and a little Japanese, perhaps.”
Trump told political and business leaders at the World Economic Forum in Davos that Europe “is not heading in the right direction” and urged them to follow his lead.
“We can argue about it but there’s no argument,” Trump said.
Trump argued that in recent decades western leaders pursued policies of greater government spending, mass migration and endless foreign imports. Trump said his policies to close the U.S. border to illegal immigration and to impose tariffs on imports were predicted to cause a global recession and runaway inflation, but that unemployment and inflation have remained low.
“We have proven them wrong,” Trump said. “It’s actually just the opposite.”
Trump opened his comments at the World Economic Forum in Davos with a joking reference to opposition among some in the audience of business and political leaders.
“So many friends, a few enemies,” he said to laughter.
--Bart Jansen
NATO Secretary General Mark Rutte told assembled business and political leaders in Davos that he's concerned that the White House's relentless focus on Greenland means Ukraine is being overlooked. Rutte was speaking on a panel at the World Economic Forum when he said he was "a little bit worried that we might drop the ball focusing so much on these other issues."
He pointed out that Russia has been increasing its attacks on Ukraine nearly four years into Moscow's invasion. "They need our support now, tomorrow, and the day after," Rutte said of Ukraine. "I need European allies to keep focus on this issue."
The Financial Times has reported that an $800 billion support and prosperity package for Ukraine that had been due to be finalized at the mountain summit between Ukraine, Europe and the U.S. has been put on hold because of the intense wrangling over Greenland.--Kim Hjelmgaard
President Donald Trump's will use his address in Davos to set his intentions for the year ahead. They include robust focus on and intervention in the western hemisphere.
A senior U.S. official told reporters traveling with Trump to Switzerland that the speech will have an America First feel and the U.S. attack on Venezuela and capture of its leader, Nicolas Maduro, would be a topic. The U.S. cut a deal with Venezuela's interim government to sell the nation's crude oil, which the Trump administration hopes will bring gas prices down.
Trump will also raise his push to acquire Greenland from NATO ally Denmark, the official said.
-- Francesca Chambers
Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney told the World Economic Forum in Davos that as great powers such as the United States wield their might for advantage, middling powers such as Canada must adopt to find new international arrangements.
“We are in the midst of a rupture, not a transition,” Carney said. “Great powers have begun using economic integration as weapons.”
Carney never mentioned Trump in his 15-minute speech. But Canada was among the first countries to “hear the wakeup call” of Trump’s tariffs, Carney said, and remains in negotiations for a new trade deal.
“You cannot live within the lie of mutual benefit through integration when integration becomes the source of your subordination,” Carney said.
Meanwhile, Carney said Canada is in the midst of doubling its defense spending over the next decade. He has reached 12 trade and security deals on four continents in six months, with new strategic partnerships with China and Qatar.
Canada remains a supporter of Ukraine in its war with Russia and stands “fully behind” Denmark and Greenland in determining the island’s future, Carney said to applause.
“We understand that this rupture calls for more than adaption,” Carney said. “Nostalgia is not a strategy.”
--Bart Jansen
President Donald Trump has arrived in Switzerland and was expected to be roughly on time for his 2:30 PM CET speech at the World Economic Forum in Davos, despite a later than intended departure from the U.S. after the Air Force One experienced electrical difficulty.
Following the president's speech, he'll meet with world leaders.
-- Francesca Chambers
e last major expansion of U.S. territory was in 1959, when Alaska and Hawaii became the 49th and 50th states under Republican President Dwight Eisenhower. Trump is also expected in his speech in Davos to talk about the U.S. economy. Prior to leaving for Switzerland, Trump said he had "a lot of meetings" planned in Davos to discuss Greenland and he struck an optimistic tone that an agreement could eventually be made.
"I think we will work something out where NATO is going to be very happy and where we're going to be very happy. But we need it for security purposes. We need it for national security," he said.
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