Author: Steve Holland and Trevor Hunnicutt
DAVOS, Switzerland, Jan 21 (Reuters) – U.S. President Donald Trump on Wednesday ruled out using force to take control of Greenland but said in a speech in Davos that no other country could ensure the security of the Danish territory.
“People thought I was going to use force, but I didn’t have to use force,” Trump said at the World Economic Forum’s annual meeting in Switzerland. “I don’t want to use force. I won’t use force.”
Trump has struck a threatening tone, denouncing America’s European allies for arrogance, disloyalty and policy failures in areas including wind power, the environment, immigration and geopolitics.
Trump’s growing threats to Europe over Greenland have damaged transatlantic ties and worried Europeans, casting a pall over a speech that was originally focused on the U.S. economy.
The Republican US president called Denmark “ungrateful” and downplayed the issue as a “small request” for a “piece of ice” and said the takeover would not pose a threat to the NATO alliance, which includes Denmark and the United States.
“No country or group of countries other than the United States can ensure the security of Greenland,” Trump said. “I am seeking immediate negotiations to again discuss the United States’ acquisition of Greenland,” he added.
During his more than hour-long speech, Trump repeatedly mistakenly referred to Greenland as Iceland.
On Tuesday, Trump ends a tumultuous first year in which he will cast a shadow over the agenda of the World Economic Forum, where global elites discuss economic and political trends.
NATO leaders have warned that Trump’s Greenland strategy could upend the alliance, while leaders in Denmark and Greenland have proposed a variety of ways to increase the U.S. presence on the strategic island of 57,000 people.
“We want a piece of ice to protect the world, but they won’t give it,” Trump said in a speech to a packed hall of Congress.
Hundreds of delegates gathered in the lobby to listen or watch Trump’s speech on video monitors or cellphones. After an hour, most people hung up and continued chatting.
(Reporting by Steve Holland and Trevor Hunnicutt; Additional reporting by Dave Graham, Ariane Luthi, Dmitry Zhdannikov; Editing by Cynthia Osterman, Toby Chopra and Alexander Smith)