Davos: Trump rules out using force to take Greenland
US President Donald Trump ruled out the use of force to acquire Greenland during his speech at the World Economic Forum, but reiterated his desire to see the Danish territory become a part of the United States.
During the course of a wide-ranging speech at Davos, Switzerland, Mr Trump said of his desire to obtain the Danish territory – which he frequently referred to mistakenly as ‘Iceland’ – that “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”.
“Now everyone’s saying, ‘Oh, good’. That’s probably the biggest statement I’ve made, because people thought I would use force.
“I don’t have to use force, I don’t want to use force, I won’t use force,” he said, adding that “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 WW2”.
“We want a piece of ice for world protection, and they won’t give it. We’ve never asked for anything else—and we could have kept that piece of land, and we didn’t. So, they have a choice. You can say yes, and we will be very appreciative, or you can say no, and we will remember,” he also said of the island.
The American president’s comments come as transatlantic tensions continue to soar over the Arctic island, with European leaders considering their response to Mr Trump’s threatened 10 percent tariffs on eight nations as a result of the dispute.
Mr Trump’s comments signal his firmest commitment yet to avoid a military confrontation with European and NATO allies over Greenland.
Despite the apparent reassurance, Mr Trump levelled harsh criticism at Europe during his hour and 10 minute long speech to world leaders, saying that “certain places in Europe are not even recognisable, frankly, anymore. They’re not recognisable”.
“Friends come back from different places – I don’t want to insult anybody – and say, ‘I don’t recognise it’. That’s not in a positive way, that’s in a very negative way. And I love Europe, and I want to see Europe go good, but it’s not heading in the right direction,” he said.
Mr Trump railed at Europe’s immigration and energy policies, as well as its loss of manufacturing capacity, and urged the continent’s leaders to copy his country’s example.
He touted his administration’s track record since returning to office one year ago, saying in the past 12 months, the United States had removed almost 300,000 “bureaucrats” from the federal payroll, cut federal spending by $100 billion, while also deregulating and cutting taxes.
Mr Trump said that his agenda had resulted in an “economic miracle” and that he’d proven sceptics of his tariff usage wrong.
Various world leaders were criticised during the US president’s speech, including Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney, who indicated the previous day that the era of “American hegemony” had come to an end.
“Canada gets a lot of freebies from us, by the way,” he said, as he discussed America’s proposed ‘Golden Dome’ missile defence system, which in principle would also cover Canadian territory.
“They should be grateful, also, but they’re not. I watched your prime minister yesterday, he wasn’t so grateful. But they should be grateful to us.
“Canada lives because of the United States. Remember that, Mark, the next time you make your statements,” Mr Trump said.
Windmills and the “Green New Scam” were also the subject of sustained derision during the president’s speech.
“The Green New Scam, windmills all over the place, destroy your land. Destroy your land. Every time that goes around you lose $1,000 dollars. You’re supposed to make money with energy, not lose money,” he said.
“Here in Europe, we’ve seen the fate that the radical left tried to impose on America. They tried very hard. Germany now generates 22 percent less electricity than it did in 2017,” he said.
He praised nuclear power, saying that America is now “going heavy” into nuclear.
On domestic issues, Mr Trump criticised attacks on ICE agents, particularly in the state of Minnesota, as well as reported welfare fraud in Somali communities in the same state.
President Trump closed his speech by saying that “the United States is back, bigger, stronger, better than ever before”.
