Trump seeks immediate talks on buying Greenland

The third day of the ongoing World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland, was marked by United States President Donald Trump's 74-minute speech that largely focused on his claimed achievements in making the US economy stronger. Greenland, NATO, and the Russia-Ukraine crisis, topics that are important to most European nations, were also mentioned.

"Now what I'm asking for is a piece of ice, cold and poorly located that can play a vital role in world peace and world protection. It's a very small ask compared to what we have given them for many decades," he said in the speech in apparent reference to Greenland.

He gave two reasons for wanting the Arctic island, with the first one being "it's not defensible that way, totally," and the second being that the US has made a great contribution to NATO production, but without much return.

"Psychologically, who the hell wants to defend a license agreement, or at least, which is a large piece of ice in the middle of the ocean, where if there is a war, much of the action will take place on that piece of ice. Think of it. Those missiles would be flying right over the center of that piece of ice," he said.

Trump also sought to frame the US acquisition of Greenland from Europe as economically justified.

"It's costing Denmark hundreds of millions a year to run it. And Denmark is a small country and a wonderful people. It's very expensive. It's a very big piece of ice. It's very important," he said. "I don't want to repeat the speech, but it's very important that we use that for national and international security that can create a power that will make it impossible for the bad guys to do anything against the perceived good ones."

He talked about the US' historical contribution to World War II as well, saying: "Without us, right now, you'd all be speaking German and a little Japanese, perhaps. After the war, we gave Greenland back to Denmark. How stupid were we to do that? But we gave it back. But how ungrateful are they now?

"So, we want a piece of ice for world protection, And they won't give it," he concluded. "We've never asked for anything else, and we could have kept that piece of land and we didn't. They have a choice."

Reflecting on Trump's address in Davos, Chris Hamilton, co-founder of UK-based Clarasys Limited, said: "I think he believes that if he keeps saying Greenland should belong to the US, eventually everyone will just give in and do a deal. Even though it was often inaccurate hyperbole and he sounded tired, he was still compelling."

Alan Slatas, head of business development at US-based Growth Protocol, who was also in Davos for the World Economic Forum, said: "Trump repeated himself too much, and again stretched the truth. "He is fixated on Greenland for all the wrong reasons. He can accomplish national and global security without owning the country."

"Trump is openly talking about Greenland like it's a real-estate flip," Brian Allen, CEO of Allen Media, wrote on X. "He just said the US 'needs' Greenland for national security, dismissed Denmark's sovereignty, mocked their military, and compared it to the Louisiana Purchase, while naming a US governor as a 'special envoy'."