U.S. President Donald Trump’s retreat from threats to use force as an option for acquiring Greenland ended weeks of political chaos as top aides struggled both to accommodate the president’s demands and to ease the panic they caused among U.S. allies, according to two sources with knowledge of the talks.
In remarks Wednesday at the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland, Trump ruled out the use of military force after weeks of refusing to rule out the possibility, and in a social media post said he would no longer impose the trade tariffs he had threatened to put into effect on February 1.
White House officials have pushed for a less provocative approach, with several senior members of the president’s team unenthusiastic about the possibility of using military force to seize Danish territory, the two White House sources said. They spoke on condition of anonymity to discuss internal deliberations.
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After saying on Wednesday that tariffs were off the table, Trump said he and the secretary general of the Western military alliance North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO), Mark Rutte, ‘formed the framework of a future agreement with respect to Greenland and, indeed, the entire Arctic region’ during talks in Davos. He tasked top officials with negotiating a possible agreement.
The episode underscored how Trump’s long-standing fascination with acquiring Greenland continues to clash with diplomatic and political reality, emblematic of a second term defined by abrupt policy shifts and rapid reversals. Repeatedly, the Republican president has changed course on trade tariffs and other issues under economic, political or market pressure.
Asked whether Trump’s advisers were not seriously pursuing military options for Greenland, White House spokeswoman Anna Kelly said: ‘The White House does not rule out options for President Trump unless he does so himself.’
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“He announced today that he will not use force to take Greenland,and the entire government will follow his lead,” Kelly said, adding that if an agreement is reached, the United States will achieve its objectives in Greenland at minimal long-term cost.
