BERLIN — President Donald Trump said Wednesday he was calling off tariff threats he had made in an attempt to secure U.S. ownership of Greenland, saying he had reached an agreement in principle with Mark Rutte, NATO secretary general, over the future of the icy Danish territory.
Writing in Truth Social, Trump said on Wednesday night that he and Rutte “have formed the framework for a future agreement with regard to Greenland and, indeed, the entire Arctic Region. This solution, if realized, will be excellent for the United States of America and for all NATO nations.”
The announcement came after a NATO meeting on Wednesday in which senior military officials from the alliance’s member states discussed a compromise under which Denmark would give the United States sovereignty over small swaths of land in Greenland where the United States could build military bases, according to three senior officials familiar with the discussion.
Opportunity with security!
The officials spoke on condition of anonymity to discuss a sensitive diplomatic matter and said the idea was being defended by Rutte. Two of them, who were at the meeting, compared the proposal to the United Kingdom’s bases in Cyprus, which are considered British territory.
The sources said they do not know whether this idea is part of the framework announced by Trump. Asked about the agreement and its content, NATO said in a statement that “negotiations between Denmark, Greenland and the United States will continue with the aim of ensuring that Russia and China are never able to establish themselves — economically or militarily — in Greenland.”
Trump did not immediately provide details about this framework and, notably, did not assert that the United States would own Greenland, even when asked directly about ownership by a reporter in Davos, Switzerland, shortly after publishing the announcement. Rutte and Denmark’s leadership also did not disclose details. The Danish prime minister’s office did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
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News of the framework came just hours after Trump told European leaders in Davos that he would accept nothing less than the United States taking ownership of Greenland — although he dropped the threat to invade the territory. Trump had promised serious economic and security consequences for Europe if he was not met.
Earlier, while speaking to an audience full of heads of state, billionaires and other global leaders, Trump repeated several times that the United States needs Greenland for national security reasons. He said that only the USA has the strength to defend the island from external threats and that this defense would only make sense if the country owned it.
He called for “immediate negotiations” to discuss the transfer of ownership of the semi-autonomous island from Denmark to the United States and mocked European countries, saying they have become unrecognizable from their “former beauty” and that they depend on the United States. “Without us, most of these countries won’t even function,” Trump said.
The day summed up Trump’s second-term approach to global power and policymaking: alternating between pressuring and humiliating former close allies in pursuit of a goal that the president appears to see as a centerpiece of his legacy.
“We’re probably not going to get anything done unless I decide to use excessive force, force with which we would be, frankly, unstoppable,” Trump said. “But I’m not going to do that. That’s probably the biggest statement, because people thought I would use force. I don’t need to use force. I don’t want to use force. I’m not going to use force. All the United States is asking for is a place called Greenland.”
A few moments later, however, Trump issued explicit and implicit threats to European leaders if they did not comply with his wishes. He reminded the audience that he had unilaterally taxed imports to the US from countries in Europe and other regions, and had already threatened to increase tariffs on Denmark and other European countries that defend the island’s maintenance under Danish sovereignty.
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As often happens in the delicate relationship with Trump, some European leaders reacted to what they considered the most positive note of the speech — the promise not to use troops — and expressed hope of reaching a compromise on the future of Greenland.
Rasmus Jarlov, chairman of the Danish Parliament’s Defense committee, said in an interview that “we’ve heard much worse” from Trump.
“I’m glad he ruled out the use of military force,” Jarlov said. “I didn’t see in today’s statements an escalation. He insists that he wants Greenland, but that’s nothing new. Of course we continue to insist that we are not going to hand over Greenland.”
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However, Trump left little room for compromise in his speech. Many European leaders repeat that they cannot consider ceding ownership of Greenland to the United States, but they also say they are open to virtually any other arrangement that would expand the American presence on the island. On Wednesday, Trump reiterated that this is not enough.
“You need the property to defend it,” he said. A moment later, he added: “Who the hell wants to defend a licensing agreement or a lease?”
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