Trump takes Greenland demand to Europe

President Donald Trump on Wednesday reiterated his demand that Denmark give him Greenland, falsely claimed that NATO had never done anything for the United States and announced that people “would be prosecuted” for stealing the 2020 election from him, all before a European audience at an economic policy conference.

But attendees at the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland, were probably relieved by a small snippet from the 72-minute speech: “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,” Trump said of taking Greenland, just days after suggesting he might do so.

Trump, who has been obsessed with acquiring Greenland since his first term, told the conference of world leaders and wealthy business executives that the United States should have kept the Arctic island at the end of World War II.

“Then after the war, which we won, we won big. Without us now, everyone would speak German and maybe a little Japanese,” he said. “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 to them. But how ungrateful are they now?”

In tone and content, much of Trump’s 72-minute speech sounded like one of his “political” or rally speeches. He attacked his predecessor Joe Biden. He lied that inflation had been defeated. He used racist attacks against Somali immigrants.

Much of his comments focused on Denmark and the NATO Atlantic alliance, with comments sure to exacerbate already strained ties with the United States’ traditional allies.

FABRICE COFFRINI via Getty Images

Trump’s pledge not to use force was sandwiched between lengthy discussions about why he believed the United States deserved Greenland, which he said should not be part of Denmark, a small country he says cannot defend it.

“We saw this in World War II, when Denmark fell to Germany after only six hours of fighting, and was totally unable to defend itself or Greenland,” he said, later adding: “Denmark knows that we literally set up bases in Greenland for Denmark. We fought for Denmark. We weren’t fighting for anyone else. We were fighting to save it for Denmark. A big, beautiful piece of ice. It’s hard to call it land. It’s a big piece of ice, but we saved Greenland. and we successfully prevented our enemies from gaining a foothold in our hemisphere.”

He then suggested that Greenland (which on four separate occasions he combined with Iceland) should belong to the United States because it was close to the United States. “This huge unsafe island is actually part of North America, on the northern border of the Western Hemisphere. That is our territory,” he said.

Trump then lied about the NATO alliance, falsely claiming he had never done anything for the United States.

“We never asked for anything and we never got anything,” he said. “The problem with NATO is that we will be there for them 100%, but I’m not sure they would be there for us if we gave them the call.”

In fact, the only time NATO’s mutual defense provision has been invoked in its 70-year history was after the September 11, 2001 terrorist attacks on the United States. NATO members fought with the United States in Afghanistan for years to come.

As Trump does in virtually every speech, he lied that the 2020 election had been stolen from him. In fact, dozens of lawsuits he filed to overturn the election results in states Biden won failed due to lack of evidence, and recounts were conducted in states with close results.

Trump and his aides then hatched a plan to steal the election by generating falsified lists of Electoral College votes from a half-dozen states. The plan failed when his own vice president, Mike Pence, refused to accept it. during Trump’s coup attempt on January 6, 2021.

Trump, however, has continued to falsely claim that he actually won in 2020, and he did so again in Davos. “It was a rigged election. Now everyone knows that they found out that people will soon be prosecuted for what they did. It’s probably breaking news, but it should be. It was a rigged election,” he said.

What interests Europe most is that Trump continued to praise tariffs (taxes on imports paid by American businesses and consumers) as one of the most successful tools at his disposal. He again falsely suggested that the exporting nation pays tariffs, but did not specifically address the 10% tariff he announced he would impose on eight NATO allies that held a joint military exercise in Greenland in response to Trump’s threats. That import tax will begin on February 1 and increase to 25% on June 1 if Denmark has not handed over Greenland to Trump by then.

It is unclear if and how this new tax would affect the trade deal Trump announced with the 27-nation European Union last summer. Six of the eight countries Trump wants to punish are members of the EU.