“We would be frankly unstoppable”: Trump dances around Greenland threats at Davos
Donald Trump continued to push for the U.S. acquisition of Greenland at the World Economic Forum on Wednesday. The president’s speech at the annual gathering in Davos was full of semi-veiled threats to Denmark and Europe.
The president repeatedly referred to Greenland, which is a semi-autonomous territory of Kingdom of Denmark as a “piece of ice.” Trump said the U.S. would be “frankly unstoppable” if they decided to take Greenland by force, but hoped it wouldn’t come to 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,” he said. “That’s probably the biggest statement I’ve made.”
A seemingly confused Trump once referred to the area as Iceland during the hour-long speech . “Our stock market took the first dip yesterday because of Iceland,” he said. “So Iceland has already cost us a lot of money.”
On Tuesday, Trump’s European tariff threats triggered biggest daily stock market drop in months over Greenland opposition. The S&P 500 dropped just over 2%, shedding over $750 billion in wealth.
Start your day with essential news from Salon.
Sign up for our free morning newsletter, Crash Course.
California Gov. Gavin Newsom, who was in attendance, called Trump’s speech “boring.”
“It was remarkably insignificant. He was never going to invade Greenland. It was never real,” Newsom told reporters. “He says ,’We should negotiate.’ Everyone here has been willing to negotiate for a year.”
Read more
about this topic
The post “We would be frankly unstoppable”: Trump dances around Greenland threats at Davos appeared first on Salon.com.