President Donald Trump ruled out the prospect of using military force over Greenland as he made his pitch to the world as to why the United States “needs” the Danish territory.
Trump’s escalating rhetoric regarding Greenland has rattled the world, particularly after he ordered the unprecedented capture of former Venezuelan dictator Nicolas Maduro.
But during his appearance at the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland, on Wednesday, Trump told the crowd he “won’t use force” over Greenland.
“People thought I would use force,” he said. “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. 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 World War II. We gave it back to them.”
At the same time, Trump reminded the world that the U.S. was “a powerful force then, but we are [a] much more powerful force now.”
“I have tremendous respect for both the people of Greenland and the people of Denmark, tremendous respect,” he said. “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 any 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 outlined in the greatest detail yet his argument regarding why the U.S. is owed Greenland, describing it as “our territory.”
“Greenland is a vast, almost entirely uninhabited and undeveloped territory sitting undefended in a key strategic location between the United States, Russia, and China,” he said. “We need it for strategic national security and international security. This enormous unsecured Island is actually part of North America, on the northern frontier of the Western Hemisphere.”
Trump also used the opportunity to criticize NATO as a “one-way street,” complaining “other presidents have spent, whether foolishly or not, trillions and trillions of dollars on NATO and [have] gotten absolutely nothing in return.”
“All we’re asking for is to get Greenland, including right title and ownership, because you need the ownership to defend it,” he said. “You can’t defend it on a lease. No. 1, legally, it’s not defensible that way, totally. And No. 2, psychologically, who the hell wants to defend a license agreement or a lease.”
‘When it goes bad, it goes bad’
Despite his demands, Trump remained adamant that he wanted the best for Europe more broadly, alluding to common interests in energy, trade, immigration and economic growth, but reiterated the U.S. sought “strong allies, not seriously weakened ones.”
“Certain places in Europe are not even recognizable, frankly, anymore. They’re not recognizable. And we can argue about it but there’s no argument,” he said. “I love Europe, and I want to see Europe go good, but it’s not heading in the right direction.”
To that end, Trump called the U.S. “the economic engine on the planet,” saying “when America booms, the entire world booms.”
“When it goes bad, it goes bad,” he said. “You all follow us down.”
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White House chief of staff Susie Wiles previewed to reporters traveling to Davos with Trump that the president’s address would underscore his America First philosophy, including his economic accomplishments, but that he would also speak to Venezuela and Greenland.
True to her word, Trump told Davos, one day after his first anniversary of returning to power, that he had come to the Swiss Alps town “with truly phenomenal news from America.”
“Yesterday marked the one year anniversary of my inauguration, and today, after 12 months back in the White House, our economy is booming,” he said. “Growth is exploding. Productivity is surging, investment is soaring. Incomes are rising. Inflation has been defeated.”
He added: “People are doing very well. They’re very happy with me.”
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Much of the economic part of Trump’s address concentrated on environmental and energy policies, at one point dismissing wind mills as “losers” and criticizing British Prime Minister Keir Starmer for underutilizing the United Kingdom’s natural resources in the North Sea.
“Last week, we picked up 50 million barrels from Venezuela alone,” the president said. “Venezuela has been an amazing place for so many years, but then they went bad with their policies 20 years ago.”
He continued: “We appreciate all of the cooperation we’ve been getting. We’ve been getting great cooperation. Once the attack ended, they said, ‘Let’s make a deal.’”
Trump also used his speech to promote his prohibition on institutional investors buying single-family homes as he tries to counter criticisms regarding affordability before this year’s midterm elections.