U.S. President Donald Trump vowed again to acquire Greenland, calling the semiautonomous territory of Denmark “our territory” while addressing the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland.
“We need it for strategic national security and international security. 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 said the U.S. “never asked” for anything in return for supporting NATO.
“We probably won’t get anything unless I decide to use excessive strength and force where we would be, frankly, unstoppable,” he said.
“I don’t have to use force. I don’t want to use force. I won’t use force. All the United States is asking for is a place called Greenland.”
Repeatedly referring to Greenland as a “piece of ice,” Trump said that “we want a piece of ice for world protection” while remarking on the U.S.’s contributions toward NATO.
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“You can say yes, and we will be very appreciative. Or you can say no and we will remember,” he said.
The speech — being streamed live in this post — comes a day after world leaders and historic allies of the U.S. repudiated Trump’s threats to annex the island, and after Prime Minister Mark Carney gave a major foreign policy speech to the same venue in which he said that “the old order is not coming back.”
On Saturday, Trump said he would impose a 10 per cent import tax starting in February on goods from eight European nations because of their opposition to an American seizure of Greenland, which Trump has not ruled out seizing by force and argues the U.S. needs for “national security.”
During a White House press conference Tuesday, Trump was asked how far he would go to acquire Greenland.
“You’ll find out,” he said.
The move has drawn criticism from allies, including the European Union and Canada. European Council President Ursula von der Leyen said the EU’s response would be “unflinching, united and proportional.”
Carney says Canada “strongly opposes” tariffs on countries opposing U.S. annexation of Greenland and that Canada’s commitment to the principle of collective defence — Article 5 — of the military alliance NATO is “unwavering.”
“On Arctic sovereignty, we stand firmly with Greenland and Denmark and fully support their unique right to determine Greenland’s future. Our commitment to NATO’s Article 5 is unwavering,” he said.
More to come.
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