Donald Trump claimed Denmark is “ungrateful” for the protection the United States provided Greenland during World War II(Image: Getty Images)
Donald Trump claimed Denmark is “ungrateful” for the protection the United States provided Greenland during World War II – and insisted they should hand it over. “We pay for NATO,” Trump said.
“We paid for many years, until I came along, in my opinion 100% of NATO, because they weren’t paying their bills. And all we’re asking for is to get Greenland, including right, title, and ownership.”
And he cautioned world leaders that if Denmark refuses to surrender the territory, the US “will remember”. During an address to the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland, the US President asserted America “won World War II”, telling a hushed room of the world’s economic and political elite they would “all be speaking German and a little Japanese, perhaps” without American intervention.
“Every NATO ally has an obligation to be able to defend its own territory,” he said. “But the reality is that no nation has the ability to defend Greenland apart from the United States.”, reports the Mirror.
Trump attempted to emphasise his efforts to control inflation and stimulate the domestic economy. However, his appearance before the gathering of global leaders centred more on his grievances with other nations.
He stated repeatedly that the US was best placed to govern Greenland and dismissed much of Europe for rejecting the notion.
“This enormous unsecured island is actually part of North America,” Trump said. “That’s our territory.”
He also repeatedly confused Greenland with Iceland. He continued by asserting the proof lay in World War II, when America shielded Greenland from Nazi forces following Denmark’s collapse.
He declared: “The United States was compelled to send our own forces to hold Greenland. And hold it we did at great expense.”
Characterising Greenland as a “big piece of ice” that couldn’t truly be termed an island, he stated: “After the war, which we won, we won it big – if it weren’t for us 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 and how ungrateful are they now?”.
He then delivered subtle warnings that he might still deploy America’s military power should Denmark reject his proposals.
“We never ask for anything and we never got anything, we probably won’t get anything unless I decide to use excessive strength and force,” he declared. “We would be frankly unstoppable, but I won’t do that. That’s probably the biggest statement I made. Because people thought I would use force. I don’t want to use force. I don’t have to use force. All the United States is asking for is a place called Greenland, which we already had it as a trustee, but respectfully returned it after we defeated the Germans, the Japanese, the Italians and others in World War II. We gave it back to them. We were a powerful force then and we’re a much more powerful force now.”
He proceeded to issue a menacing warning: “So we want a piece of ice for world protection. And they won’t give it. We’ve never asked for anything else, and we could have kept that piece of land and we didn’t. So they have a choice. You can say yes, and we will be very appreciative. Or you can say no and we will remember.”
Trump also dedicated a considerable portion of his address to attacking Britain’s reliance on wind turbines for energy generation, alleging it was responsible for elevated electricity costs across the UK.
Prior to Trump’s remarks, Keir Starmer pledged, “I will not yield.
“Britain will not yield on our principles and values about the future of Greenland under threats of tariffs, and that is my clear position,” he declared during Prime Minister’s Questions.