DAVOS, Switzerland — President Donald Trump said Wednesday he is dropping his threat to slap new tariffs on European nations in a fresh sign that he is prepared to reach a peaceful settlement to a tense standoff over the future of Greenland.
Trump announced on social media that after a private meeting with NATO’s secretary general in Davos, Switzerland, he agreed to the “framework of a future deal with respect to Greenland and, in fact, the entire Arctic region.”
Trump gave no details, nor did he say he was abandoning his effort to wrest control of Greenland, a semi-autonomous territory of Denmark. Earlier Wednesday, Trump gave a speech at the World Economic Forum in which he said that the U.S. needs to absorb Greenland for global security reasons and that European countries need to meet the demand.
Senior administration officials, including Vice President JD Vance, Secretary of State Marco Rubio and special envoy Steve Witkoff, will lead the negotiations over Greenland’s fate and report back to him, Trump wrote.
Financial markets spiked at the news that Trump was ditching the 10% tariffs he said he would impose on eight European countries — part of a pressure campaign to gain possession of Greenland.
For now, Trump seems intent on a negotiated resolution to the Greenland dispute. In his speech, he said he won’t use military force to acquire Greenland, though he left no doubt that he still wants the U.S. to play a dominant role in Greenland’s future.
“You can say yes, and we will be very appreciative, or you can say no, and we will remember,” the president told the audience of CEOs, politicians and diplomats.
He said that “we want a piece of ice for world protection, and they won’t give it. We’ve never asked for anything else.”
Trump’s appearance at the conference comes amid the biggest crisis within the NATO alliance in decades. Longtime Western allies have cautioned that the rules-based international order is fraying as America threatens the sovereignty of smaller nations. The day before at Davos, Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney, whose country Trump has also targeted, said that the geopolitical landscape is undergoing not a “transition,” but a “rupture.”
Trump made no apologies for his aggressive push to absorb Greenland, saying the U.S. needs the territory for the “Golden Dome” missile defense system and to deprive adversaries of a foothold in America’s own hemisphere.
Though the U.S. already has a military base on Greenland — and European allies said they’re open to an expanded American presence — Trump said that owning the island would provide more incentive for America to properly defend it. A lease agreement won’t suffice, said Trump, a former real estate magnate.
Trump told the audience that “psychologically, who the hell wants to defend a license agreement or a lease, 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 will be flying right over the center of that piece of ice.”
European leaders have sounded baffled and resentful over Trump’s efforts to procure Greenland.
“I do not understand what you are doing on Greenland,” French President Emmanuel Macron wrote Trump in a private text message the U.S. president posted online this week.
In his speech, Trump laid out his rationale. NATO countries are obliged to defend themselves, and the U.S. is the only allied nation with the strength and resources to protect Greenland from hostile incursions, he said.
“It’s the United States alone that can protect this giant mass of land, this giant piece of ice, develop it and improve it and make it so that it’s good for Europe and safe for Europe and good for us,” Trump said.
He pointed to history. During World War II, Germany overran Denmark, which proved unable to defend itself or Greenland, he said. U.S. forces stepped in and kept the territory out of Hitler’s hands. Now, America wants Greenland back. Denmark’s defiance ignores the sacrifices American soldiers made, he suggested.
“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 did it, but we gave it back. But how ungrateful are they now?” Trump said.
The audience listened largely in silence, according to a press pool report. There was some light laughter in the room, along with “uncomfortable looks” on the part of some of the attendees.
Upon the president’s arrival in Davos after an overnight flight from Washington, someone had written, “Trump Go Home” in the snow near his landing site.
Speaking for more than an hour, Trump at times sounded as if he were delivering a boilerplate campaign address to a home audience. He touted his work over the past year, mentioning that gas prices have dropped and many government “bureaucrats” have been fired, suggesting they’re now working in jobs that pay better in the private sector.
He took a swipe at his predecessor, calling him “Sleepy Joe Biden,” and said that people would be prosecuted over the 2020 election that made Biden president. Trump contends the election was “rigged,” though there is no evidence of wrongdoing on a scale that would have reversed the outcome.
Before he was finished, he bashed windmills, boasted of his “landslide” election victory in 2024 and denigrated the nation of Somalia, as well as the Somali-born congresswoman from Minnesota, Democrat Ilhan Omar. On at least four occasions, he confused Greenland with Iceland.
Some of his most pointed comments were directed at traditional American allies. He questioned whether NATO would come to America’s aid in the event of a war.
“The problem with NATO is, we’ll be there for them 100%, but I’m not sure they’d be there for us,” he said.
(After the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attack, NATO invoked Article V for the first time in its history — a clause stating that the attack on one member was an attack on all.)
During a photo spray before his meeting with Trump, the NATO secretary general, Mark Rutte, sought to dispel Trump’s concern that the alliance would abandon the U.S. in wartime.
“You can be assured, absolutely, if ever U.S. will be under attack, your allies will be with you. Absolutely, there’s absolute guarantee,” Rutte told Trump. “I really want to tell you this because this is important. It pains me if you think it is not.”
“I hope that that’s true,” Trump said.
In his speech earlier in the day, Trump also had harsh words for Canada. He said that Canada “gets a lot of freebies from us,” but is not “grateful.”
“I watched your prime minister yesterday,” Trump said, in reference to Carney. “He wasn’t so grateful.”
Before Trump spoke, NBC News interviewed one of his favorite foils: California’s Democratic governor, Gavin Newsom, who is attending the conference. Trump name-checked Newsom during his speech, calling him a “good guy” who “I used to get along so great with.”
Newsom, a potential presidential candidate in 2028, said of Trump’s tenure: “It’s an extraordinary wrecking ball presidency and administration. And people understand it here. There’s a deep understanding in the United States, the impacts are going to be outsized, the next five, 10, 15 years.”
Peter Nicholas is a senior White House reporter for NBC News.
Peter Alexander is chief White House correspondent for NBC News.
Tara Prindiville
contributed
.