President Donald Trump delivered a defiant and combative address at the World Economic Forum on Wednesday, using the annual gathering of world leaders and business executives to tout America’s role in the world and pressing his case for the U.S. to acquire Greenland.
“Without us, right now you’d all be speaking German and Japanese, perhaps,” Trump said to the room full of billionaires, government officials, and diplomats. “After the war, we gave Greenland back to Denmark. How stupid were we to do that, but we did it, but we gave it back. But how ungrateful are they now?”
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The speech, widely anticipated as a key moment in his presidency, came amid a deepening diplomatic crisis over Trump’s focus on annexing Greenland, which has alarmed European leaders and raised questions about the future of NATO.
“This enormous unsecured Island is actually part of North America, on the northern frontier of the Western Hemisphere,” Trump said. “That’s our territory.”
Trump’s speech was framed by weeks of high-profile prelude and controversy. In the days leading up to his arrival in Davos, he inundated social media with memes depicting American flags over Greenland, Canada, and other territories, and published private text messages from leaders including French President Emmanuel Macron and NATO Secretary General Mark Rutte. European officials scrambled to respond, convening emergency meetings in Brussels and considering retaliatory tariffs, while Denmark reinforced its military presence in Greenland.
At more than one point, Trump suggested the U.S. would not take Greenalnd by force, while making clear it could if it wanted. “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,” he said. Moments later, he added, “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.”
The President’s posture stood in sharp contrast to thinly veiled condemnations delivered on Tuesday by key European figures. Prime Minister Mark Carney of Canada warned of a “rupture” in the world order, declaring that the rules-based international system was eroding and that “the strong do what they can, and the weak suffer what they must.” President Macron decried the use of coercion and tariffs to advance territorial ambitions, asserting that Europe would not accept the “law of the strongest” or be intimidated by “bullies.”
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