- • U.S. President rebukes Carney
United States (U.S.) President Donald Trump said yesterday he would not take over Greenland by force, but stuck firmly to his demands for control of the Danish territory during a speech in Davos and hinted at consequences if his ambitions were thwarted.
“People thought I would use force, but I don’t have to use force,” Trump said at the World Economic Forum annual meeting in the Swiss Alpine resort. “I don’t want to use force. I won’t use force,” he added, without mentioning his threat of tariffs.
Trump said he wanted immediate negotiations on a U.S. acquisition of Greenland, which is a Danish territory, and warned: “They have a choice. You can say yes, and we will be very appreciative, or you can so no, and we will remember.”
Trump, however, took a swipe at the Canadian prime minister when he said Canada should be “grateful” to the U.S., following Mark Carney’s widely praised speech at the World Economic Forum (WEF).
“We’re building a golden dome that’s going to, just by its very nature, be defending Canada. Canada gets a lot of freebies from us, by the way. They should be grateful also, but they’re not,” he said in Davos, Switzerland.
Referring to Carney, Trump added, “I watched the prime minister yesterday. He wasn’t so grateful.”
“They should be grateful to the U.S. Canada lives because of the United States. Remember that Mark the next time you make your statements,” he said.
It came after Carney’s speech drew global attention and a standing ovation after he warned that the post-war rules-based international order is fading and said middle powers like Canada must adapt to a world of growing rivalry and coercion.
Saying that “the old order is not coming back. We shouldn’t mourn it,” said Carney. “Nostalgia is not a strategy.”
“Canadians know that our old, comfortable assumption, that our geography and alliance memberships automatically conferred prosperity and security — that assumption is no longer valid,” he said.
Relations between Canada and the U.S. have been strained after Trump imposed tariffs on Canadian goods and later halted talks because of an anti-tariff advertisement aired in the US.
U.S. stocks staged a modest recovery after the sharpest equities selloff in three months, with the S&P 500 (.SPX), opens new tab up about 1% after Wednesday’s remarks by Trump, who attributed the prior dip in markets to his comments on Greenland.
Rather than focusing on the economic message his aides had previewed, Trump delivered more than an hour of scolding and threats aimed at countries already unnerved by his push to seize territory from Denmark, which is a longtime U.S. NATO ally.
He chastised Europeans on issues ranging from wind power and the environment to immigration and geopolitics, while casting himself as a defender of Western values.
And while he took the threat of force off the table for Greenland, Trump bragged about U.S. military might, citing recent operations such as the shock ousting of Venezuela’s Nicolas Maduro earlier this month.
Calling Denmark “ungrateful,” the Republican U.S. president played down the territorial dispute as a “small ask” over a “piece of ice” and said an acquisition would be no threat to the NATO alliance, which includes Denmark and the United States.
“It’s clear from this speech that the president’s ambition is intact,” Denmark’s Foreign Minister Lars Lokke Rasmussen told reporters in Copenhagen, adding: “In isolation it’s positive that the president says what he does regarding the military, but that does not make the problem go away”.
Trump said Greenland is crucial to the “Golden Dome” missile‑defense system and urged immediate negotiations.
“No nation or group of nations is in any position to be able to secure Greenland other than the United States,” said Trump, who on four occasions mistakenly referred to Greenland as Iceland, another NATO member state.
Trump, who marked the end of a turbulent first year in office on Tuesday, is set to overshadow the agenda of the WEF, where global elites chew over economic and political trends.
NATO leaders have warned that Trump’s Greenland strategy could upend the alliance, while the leaders of Denmark and Greenland have offered a wide array of ways for a greater U.S. presence on the strategic island territory of 57,000 people.
His threat at the weekend to impose rising tariffs on eight European countries, including NATO allies, if they do not support his acquisition of the Arctic island has rattled politicians in Europe and jolted markets.
The European Parliament is suspending its work on the European Union’s trade deal with the United States in protest at Trump’s Greenland demands.
“We want a piece of ice for world protection, and they won’t give it,” Trump said in his speech to a congress hall filled with what he called “so many friends, a few enemies.”
His remarks drew uncomfortable looks and light laughter from the audience in Davos, but most were silent.
Meanwhile, hundreds of delegates gathered in the lobby to listen to or watch Trump’s speech on video monitors or on mobile phones. After an hour, most had tuned out and resumed chatting.
Trump also used his speech to settle scores on other grievances. He rounded on Britain over extracting insufficient oil from the North Sea, Switzerland over its trade surplus in goods with the U.S., France over its pharmaceutical policy, Canada for what he saw as its ingratitude and NATO for its unwillingness to bend to U.S. interests.
