Trump: I won’t use force to take Greenland
Onto Nato, Trump says “we give so much, and we get so little in return.”
Trump says the US only gets “death, disruption, and massive amounts of cash [given] to people who don’t appreciate what we do.” – and he’s taking about both Nato and Europe generally.
Trump then points out Nato chief Mark Rutte in the audience – who this morning was complimentary about Trump’s pressure to raise military spending among Nato members.
Trump then appears to state that he won’t use force to obtain Greenland.
We won’t get anything unless I use excessive strength and force, when we would be unstoppable.
I won’t use force.
Trump then claims that the US has got “nothing out of Nato”, apart from protecting Europe from Russia.
[This is, frankly, offensive. Nato’s collective defence pledge, Article 5, has only been activated once, after 9/11].
And Trump then repeats his desire to acquire Greenland.
Key events
Trump: Seeking immediate negotiations for purchase of Greenland
Here we go: Trump then tells Davos that the US are seeking “immediate negotiations” to discuss the acquisition of Greenland.
[Reminder, Denmark has said the semi-autonomous island is not for sale].
Trump: US ‘takes great care’ about the people of Europe, but they are ‘destroying themselves’
Jakub Krupa
Trump says the US “takes great care” about the people Europe, mentioning his Scottish and German heritage within family, and says “we believe deeply in bonds we share with Europe as a civilisation.”
But, BUT, he says:
“That’s why issues like energy, trade, immigration and economic growth must be central concerns to anyone who wants to see a strong and united west, because Europe and those countries have to do their thing.
They have to get out of the culture that they’ve created over the last ten years.
It’s horrible what they’re doing to themselves. They’re destroying themselves. … We want strong allies, not seriously weakened ones.”
Trump: You’d be speaking German and Japanese without us
Onto the Greenland crisis – Trump says he wondered about dropping this from his speech (but it’s the issue everyone cares about).
He starts with a relatively conciliatory tone, saying:
I have tremendous respect for the people of Greenland and the people of Denmark.
But every Nato member has an obligation to defend their own territory.
No-one can secure Greenland apart from the US, he insists.
He says the world saw this in the second world war, when “Denmark fell to Germany after six hours of fighting”.
We were then compelled to send our own forces to hold the Greenland territory, at great cost and expense, Trump says, setting up military bases on this “big beautiful piece of ice”
And lurching into language popularised by England’s football fans, Trump tells WEF that America won the second world war.
Without us, you’d be speaking German and Japanese perhaps, he declares.
After the war, we gave Greenland back to Denmark. How stupid were we to do that? How ungrateful are they now, Trump muses.
Donald Trump says “he wants the UK to do great”, before criticising Britain’s green energy strategy.
Joking that you’re “supposed to make money with energy, not lose it”, Trump is now banging on about how green energy is a fraud.
He’s criticising the decision to wind down drilling in the North Sea (part of the strategy to fight the climate emergency), saying companies have been put off from drilling through windfall taxes.
Trump then slips into a riff about China’s role in the green tech industry, saying you “never seen a wind farm in China” – they only build them as demonstrations to persuade ‘stupid people’ to buy them.
Onto Venezuela, and Trump mentions glibly that the US just picked up 50m barrels of Venezuelan oil (following the capture of its leader Nicolás Maduro).
[This is a controversial issue, though, as the oil was sold to a company whose senior oil trader donated to Donald Trump’s re-election campaign.]
“Venezuela is going to do fantastically well,” Trump promises, saying it will quickly make more money than in the last 20 years.
Europe ‘not heading in right direction’, Trump says
Jakub Krupa
We didn’t have to wait long for a first swipe at Europe.
Trump says he wants to share his recipe for the US success for others to follow, as he says “certain places in Europe are not even recognisable.”
“We can argue about it, but there’s no argument. Friends come back from different places – I don’t want to insult anybody – and say, I don’t recognise it. And that’s not in a positive way, that’s in a very negative way.
And I love Europe and I want to see Europe go good, but it’s not heading in the right direction.”
On trade, Trump suggests that nearly every country who’ve signed a trade deal with US have seen their stock markets boom.
He reminds WEF:
When the United States goes up, you follow.
Modesty is not high on the agenda for this speech.
Citing the new “100% expensing” rules brought in to support company investment, Trump declares “a miracle is taking place” in the US economy, which “no-one thought it would ever be done by any country”.
He adde that his first term as president was the “most successful term ever” from a financial perspective.
Trump then declares that he is lowering taxes, and raising tariffs on foreign nations – to pay for the damage he says they have caused.
[However, tariffs are paid by importers, ie US companies and consumers].
Trump then attacks ‘unchecked, mass migration’, and Europe’s green energy focus.
He claims that certain places in Europe are “not recognisable, frankly”.
He says friends come back from different places, and say ‘I don’t recognise’ it, in a negative way.
Trump insists he wants Europe to go well, but claims Europe is not moving in the right direction.
Jakub Krupa
What should we be watching out for? Who knows what to expect.
But you can imagine Trump will want to make his views on Greenland clear, including any potential impact on Nato as a knock-on effect, and he can also be expected to touch upon the related issues, such as the US trade and wider relationship with Europe.
Be in no doubt about the seriousness of this moment: most political Europe will be on very high alert for his every word on these issues.
For Europe specific reaction to Trump’s speech, I’ll also be posting in the Europe live blog here.
Trump: Inflation has been defeated
Donald Trump starts his speech by saying it’s a pleasure to be back in Davos (he was last here in 2020).
He jokes that it’s nice to be back with “So many friends, a few enemies,” winning a laugh from his audience.
Trump declares that “inflation has been defeated” and America’s previous “open and dangerous border” has been closed.
[inflation was last clocked at 2.7% per year, over the Federal Reserve’s 2% target].
He brags that he’s delivering the most remarkable transformation in US history, and promises growth that no country has seen before.
Core inflation is just 1.6%, he adds, while Q4 2025 growth is predicted 5.4% – far higher than anyone apart from Trump himself predicted.
Trump’s speech is under way
Trump kicks off his speech, and quickly promises US “growth like no country has ever seen before”.
“People are doing very well, they’re very happy with me,” he tells the audience.
Donald Trump’s speech is definitely running late, as he doesn’t seem to have arrived yet.
My colleague and the Guardian’s economics editor, Heather Stewart, has sent us this video of the queue to enter the hall:
