Name: Donald Trump backtracks on using force over Greenland and drops new tariffs on allies | BBC News
Uploaded: 2026-01-22T17:11:56.000Z
Duration: 13 min 52 s
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Days after stunning his European allies by suggesting he'd use military force to take Greenland and impose tariffs on European opponents of his plan, President Trump has had second thoughts, ruling out force and dropping his tariffs threat.

Past perfect

And tonight he said he'd formed the framework of a future deal on Greenland after meeting NATO's Secretary General, which he described as a long term deal.

Earlier, in the Swiss resort of Davos, during a wide ranging and sometimes meandering speech, the President boasted about the US Economy, attacked worldly leaders and people from Somalia, and

criticized Europe on immigration and energy.

In a moment, we'll hear from Faisal Islam in Davos about reactions to the President's speech.

It was when the whole of the US Team sat down to talks with NATO representatives.

Donald Trump does get on very well with the Secretary General.

And somehow together they found an answer to the Greenland problem.

Shortly afterwards, President Trump posted saying, we've formed the framework of a future deal with respect to Greenland and in fact, the entire Arctic region.

He went on, based on this understanding, I will not be imposing the tariffs that were scheduled to go into effect on February 1st.

There was then a hurried scramble to ask the man himself, what's in this agreement?

I think it puts everybody in a really good position, especially as it pertains to security and minerals.

The day began with frosty relations between the US President and assembled world leaders who had openly derided his desire to take control of Greenland.

There were long queues for the chance to witness what was turning into a high stakes dispute between the US And Europe, which the President thought was funny.

Would you like me to say a few words of Greenland?

I was going to leave it out of the speech, but

I thought, I think I would have been reviewed very negatively.

All joking aside, there was a collective sigh of relief when he said he will not use military force to seize Greenland.

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 where we would be, frankly, unstoppable.

That's probably the biggest statement I made because people thought I would use force.

He's ruling out the use of force, but not backing down.

Trump laid out a considered case for why he believes it's essential for the US to control Greenland's key geographic location.

We need it for strategic national security and international security.

This enormous unsecured island is actually part of North America on the northern frontier of the Western Hemisphere.

It is therefore a core national security interest of the United States of America.

President Trump thinks Greenland should be America's by right, and he repeated his desire to own the territory.

And that's the reason I'm seeking immediate negotiations to once again again discuss the acquisition of Greenland by the United States.

Just as we have acquired many other territories throughout our history, as many of the European nations have.

Donald Trump's argument is laced with familiar grievance and resentment.

He complained that Denmark's not grateful for America's role in saving Greenland during World War II.

He thinks the U.S. spends too much money on defending its allies.

And he doesn't believe other NATO countries would come to its rescue if they were asked to.

The us, he said, should never have given Greenland back after defending it during the Second World War.

But we saved Greenland and successfully prevented our enemies from gaining a foothold in our hemisphere.

And then after the war, which we won, we won it big.

Without us, right now, you'd all be speaking German and a little Japanese.

Perhaps smarting from criticism from other world leaders attending this summit, he swiped back at people like the Canadian PM going to be defending Canada.

Canada gets a lot of freebies from us, by the way.

They should be grateful also, but they're not.

But they should be grateful to us, Canada.

Canada lives because of the United States.

Remember that mark the next time you make your statements.

And there was a slightly ominous warning to Denmark and anyone else who tries to stand in his way.

You can say yes, and we will be very appreciative, or you can say no, and

This was vintage Trump over an hour of bombastic claims and thinly veiled threats.

Several times he called Greenland, Iceland by mistake before striking a deal he claims will give him everything he wants, but

doesn't appear to involve ownership of the Arctic territory.

Now, Sarah, as you said, some fighting talk from Donald Trump.

It depends, of course, on the details of exactly what's in this deal.

And you heard Donald Trump there saying it does give him everything he wants, wanted to get.

But earlier in that speech, just hours before he announced that a deal had been done, he said, you need ownership to defend it, talking about Greenland.

And he said, who wants to defend a license agreement or a lease?

And then after he posted that a deal had been done, he was asked by a reporter, does this mean that America will own Greenland?

And he dodged that question by saying this is a very, very long term lease.

Well, we won't know until we see exactly what the deal is.

But for somebody who had been so insistent that he needed to acquire and own Greenland, it doesn't seem tonight as though that is the deal that he's managed to strike.

And yet he's saying he's very, very happy with it.

Well, Faisal Islam was in the room in Davos as President Trump delivered that speech.

And he spoke to members of the audience afterwards for their reaction.

Well, occasionally in this job you feel like you're being a witness to a type of history.

And that's what it felt like today in that Congress hall earlier this afternoon, because Donald Trump arrived, as you've heard there from Sarah, with a message.

It seemed to be that he was trying to be diplomatic.

That's how it was read by many people in the room.

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Donald Trump backtracks on using force over Greenland and drops new tariffs on allies | BBC News

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