Trump backs away from military force, says U.S. has ‘framework’ for Greenland’s future

NUUK, Greenland — President Trump eased transatlantic tensions and lifted Wall Street on Wednesday, backing away from his most serious threats to Denmark after rejecting the possibility of using military force to annex Greenland, a Danish territory and the world’s largest island.

Instead the United States “Framework” agreement signed Trump wrote on social media that he had been in talks with the NATO secretary general about the future of Greenland, and indeed the entire Arctic region. He did not immediately provide details about the content of the plan.

The harsh blow of the developments followed weeks of escalating threats by the president to control Greenland, including by force if left no other option.

“The military is no longer on the table,” Trump told reporters at an economic forum in Switzerland, acknowledging that everyone in the room breathed a sigh of relief.

“I don’t think it will be necessary,” he said. “I really don’t know. I think people will make better decisions.”

It was a turn of events that came as welcome news in Nuuk, where signs rejecting American imperialism hung in store fronts and kitchen windows.

“It’s hard to say what his negotiation tactics are and what his basis is for saying all this,” said Finn Meinel, a lawyer born and raised in Greenland’s capital. “Maybe the joint pressure from the EU and NATO countries had an impact as well as the economic figures in the states. Maybe that also had an impact.”

In his speech in Davos, Trump drew attention to the turmoil created in the markets by his threats against Greenland as he entered the conference. Announcing the agreement framework on social media on Wednesday, he said he would: pause punitive tariffs It was planned against long-time European allies who refused to support their demands.

Leading world leaders, including Canada, France and the United Kingdom, among Washington’s closest allies, warned earlier this week that Trump’s militant threats against a NATO member were ushering in a new era of global order featuring a less trustworthy United States.

Trump has been calling for the United States to embrace Greenland for years because of its strategic location in the Arctic Circle, where melting ice due to climate change has led to a new era of competition with Russia and China. The president says a conflict in the Arctic would require a strong U.S. presence there.

While the president has dismissed climate change and its dangers as a hoax, he has embraced the opportunities that could come from melting Greenland’s ice sheet, the world’s largest after Antarctica, including the opening of new shipping lanes and defensive fortifications.

The fact that the United States currently has broad freedom to deploy defense assets as it sees fit across the island raises questions in Europe about Trump’s determination to maintain direct sovereignty over these territories.

Addressing the members of the NATO alliance, Trump said, “We want a piece of ice to protect the world, but they do not give it. We have never asked for anything else.”

“I don’t want to use force. I won’t use force,” Trump said. But Europe still has a choice. “You can say yes and we will be very grateful,” he continued, “or you can say no and we will remember.”

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A day before Trump’s speech, allies warned of a “rupture” in the global order in which the United States could be relied upon as a force for good. In a speech Tuesday, Canadian prime minister Mark Carney called Trump’s effort to buy Greenland an example of “why the old order will not come back.”

Trump apparently took Carney’s words to heart, telling the crowd on Wednesday that Canada “should be grateful.”

“But they’re not,” Trump said. “Canada lives because of the United States of America. Remember that next time you make a statement, Mark.”

The president struck a similar tone in his demands for Greenland, repeatedly calling the United States a “great power” compared to Denmark in its ability to protect the Arctic region. At one point, citing the American military’s role in World War II to justify his demands, he told the eastern Swiss audience: “If it weren’t for us, you’d all be speaking German or maybe a little Japanese.”

It was a mild move pushed forward by the president’s treasury secretary, Scott Bessent, who derided Copenhagen for its decision to remove U.S. treasury bonds. “Denmark’s investment in US treasury bonds, like Denmark itself, is irrelevant,” the secretary said.

Trump has on multiple occasions described the transatlantic alliance as an alliance that benefits other countries more than the United States.

“We’re going to be 100% with NATO, but I’m not sure they’re going to be there for us,” Trump said. However, NATO Secretary General Mark Rutte responded to this concern at the meeting, stating that the alliance’s commitment to common defense in Article 5 had only been put forward once, by the United States, after the September 11 attacks. “Let me tell you this: they will,” Rutte said.

However, Trump expanded on his thoughts about Greenland in his speech at the summit, describing his obsession with Greenland as “psychological” and questioning why the United States would come to the defense of the island if its only investment was a licensing agreement.

“There is no trace of Denmark there. And I say this with great respect to Denmark, whose people I love and whose leaders are very good,” Trump said. “It’s only the United States that can develop and improve and protect this huge, huge land, this huge piece of ice, in a way that’s good for Europe, safe for Europe and good for us.”

California Governor Gavin Newsom was also among the audience reacting to Trump’s remarks in real time. He later told CNN that the president’s speech was “extremely boring” and “extremely unimportant.”

“He was never going to invade Greenland. That was never a reality,” Newsom said. “This was always fake.”

Wilner reported from Nuuk, Ceballos from Washington DC