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US President Donald Trump has just started his closely watched speech in Davos, Switzerland. He began it by boasting about how he had “reawakened” the American economy during his first year in office. Just yesterday, exactly one year passed since he returned to the White House for the second time.
In his speech, he also addressed Europe, which, according to his own words, he “does not recognize”. In his speech, he also addressed Greenland, which, according to him, the United States “stupidly” returned to Denmark, which is “ungrateful” for it.
He began by praising himself
“People are doing very well, they are very satisfied with me,” he says to the audience, which includes the head of NATO Mark Rutte as well as Czech Prime Minister Andrej Babiš. Trump joked that it was nice to be back with “so many friends and so few enemies,” to laughter from the audience.
Trump declared that “inflation has been defeated” and that America’s previous “open and dangerous border” has been closed.
He boasts that he is carrying out the most spectacular transformation in US history and promises growth like no other country has ever seen.
Trump: “I don’t recognize Europe”
At the World Economic Forum (WEF) in Davos, Switzerland, Trump attacked “uncontrolled mass migration” and Europe’s focus on green energy. He claims that some places in Europe are “frankly unrecognizable”. He says that friends come back from different places and say that they “don’t know” them, in a negative way. Trump insists he wants Europe to do well, but says Europe is not headed in the right direction.
In his speech, Trump also addressed Greenland, a topic the whole world was waiting for. This island, located between Europe and the USA, was described as a “beautiful piece of ice”. Trump gave a somewhat revisionist lecture on World War II history, saying the US “saved” Greenland and should never have let it go.
Greenland should never have been returned to the US
“We gave Greenland back to Denmark after the war. How stupid were we to do that?” he said, adding that Denmark is “ungrateful” for that today.
Acquiring the island, which he said was “undefended,” was a strategic necessity for Washington, he argued. “Only the United States can protect this … huge piece of ice, develop it and improve it,” he declared.
He rejected the scenario that the United States would only “rent” Greenland. According to Trump, the US must acquire it to keep the enemy “at arm’s length”. He wants to build an anti-missile system in Greenland, which he compared to the Israeli shield known as the Iron Dome.
At the same time, the American president denied that he wanted to acquire Greenland “by force”.
In Davos, Trump also addressed the war between Russia and Ukraine, which he believes must end. He said he was in talks with Russian President Vladimir Putin, who “wants to make a deal.” He thinks Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky, whom he will meet in Davos later today, also wants to make a deal.
