Trump Backs Down Over Threat To Invade Greenland In Rambling Davos Speech
Donald Trump has backed down on his threats to invade Greenland – but insisted he still intends to annex the Arctic island.
In a rambling speech lasting well over an hour at the World Economic Forum in Davos, the US president demanded “immediate negotiations” with Denmark over the semi-autonomous territory.
But significantly, he ruled out using military force to bring it under American control.
Trump said: “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.”
His comments are a U-turn on his previous refusal to rule out military intervention, and come after European leaders insisted they would block Trump’s expansionist ambitions.
Trump’s climbdown also came barely two hours after Keir Starmer told MPs he “will not yield” over Greenland’s future, despite the president’s threats to impose tariffs on the European countries who oppose him.
The prime minister said: “I have made my position clear on our principles and values. The first of those is that the future of Greenland is for the people of Greenland and the Kingdom of Denmark alone.
“The second is that threats of tariffs to pressure allies are completely wrong.”
Nevertheless, Trump did insist that his aim of seizing control of Greenland remains.
He said he would be “seeking immediate negotiations to once again discuss the acquisition of Greenland by the United States, just as we have acquired many other territories throughout our history, as many of the European nations have”.
This was “a very small ask” compared with what his country has done for Nato, the president told world leaders.
Bizarrely, Trump also appeared to confuse Greenland with Iceland on numerous occasions during his speech.
At one point, he said: “Our stock market took the first dip yesterday because of Iceland, so Iceland has already cost us a lot of money.”
Elsewhere in the speech, Trump also took aim at European “losers” over their country’s energy policies, and reserved special criticism for the UK.
“The United Kingdom produces just one third of the total energy from all sources that it did in 1999. Think of that,” he said.
“One third, and they’re sitting on top of the North Sea, one of the greatest reserves anywhere in the world, but they don’t use it.
“That’s one reason why their energy has reached catastrophically low levels with equally high prices.”