How Trump gave the world's leaders a 'history lesson on Greenland'

Donald Trump arrived in Davos on Wednesday with a demand to buy Greenland – and warned America's Nato allies not to stand in his way. 

In an extraordinary speech lasting more than an hour, the President ruled out taking the Arctic island by force, instead using his spot on the main stage to call for 'immediate negotiations' for the 'acquisition'. 

Drawing heavily on the Second World War, he said his country had saved the 'big beautiful piece of ice' from Germany before the 'stupid' US 'gave it back' to Denmark, who should be 'grateful'. 

Despite mistakenly calling the semi-autonomous territory 'Iceland' four times, Mr Trump said he wanted all 'rights, title and ownership' of the island. He said allies had a 'chance to say yes and we will be very appreciative', but warned: 'You say no, and we will remember.' 

From his speech, he headed off to a meeting with Nato boss Mark Rutte, from which he emerged on Wednesday night claiming to have struck a deal – although there were no details of what his apparent 'framework' would look like. 

For 72 minutes in the afternoon, straight off his delayed flight from Washington and seemingly weary from it, Mr Trump had the Swiss business forum captivated, deviating wildly and going off script as his speeches often do. 

He mocked the aviator sunglasses worn by French president Emmanuel Macron the previous day to cover an eye infection. He hit out at 'Somali bandits', labelled Europe 'unrecognisable', and suggested he had wanted to bring Second World War battleships out of retirement. 

But though it took some 20 minutes for him to get to the issue, it was the subject of Greenland that most exercised the leader of the free world. 

Warming up, he warned America wants 'strong allies, not seriously weakened ones' and singled out Britain for not using North Sea oil. 

Europe must 'get out of the culture they've created over the last ten years', he said. If they want a 'strong and united West', they must get a grip of 'energy, trade, immigration and economic growth'. 

Then, teasing the 2,300 delegates packed into Davos' congress hall, he turned his sights on the subject world leaders had been bracing for. 

'No current issue makes the situation more clear than what's going on with Greenland,' he said. Pausing for effect, he added with a smile: 'I was going to leave it out of the speech, but thought I was going to be reviewed very negatively.' 

While Mr Trump said he has 'tremendous respect for both the people of Greenland and the people of Denmark', he insisted 'every Nato ally has an obligation to be able to defend their own territory'. 

'The fact is no nation or group of nations is in any position to be able to secure Greenland other than the United States. We're a great power, much greater than people even understand,' he said. 

To justify his claim, Mr Trump reminded Denmark that in the Second World War the country 'fell to Germany after just six hours of fighting'. The US was 'compelled' to send forces to hold Greenland but 'after the war, which we won big... we gave Greenland back to Denmark'. 

'How stupid were we to do that?' he asked, given the island is 'right smack in the middle' of the US, China and Russia. 

Of the Danes, he demurred: 'How ungrateful are they now.' 

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Trump tells EU they'd all be 'speaking German' without US - but says he WON'T use force in Greenland

Mr Trump described Greenland, home to nearly 60,000 people, as a 'vast, almost entirely uninhabited and undeveloped territory'. 

He dismissed arguments that he only wants the island for its valuable rare earth metals, saying it is for 'international security' – despite America being allowed to deploy its own troops to the territory. 

Only the US can make it 'safe for Europe and good for us', he said. 'That's the reason I'm seeking immediate negotiations to once again discuss the acquisition of Greenland by the United States.'

The only reprieve during his blistering attack on allies came when, for the first time, he ruled out seizing the territory by force.

Having bemoaned Nato, saying, 'We give so much and we get so little in return,' Mr Trump said of Greenland: 'We probably won't get anything unless I decide to use excessive strength and force, where we would be, frankly, unstoppable. But I won't do that, OK... That's probably the biggest statement I made... I don't have to use force. I don't want to use force. I won't use force.'

Even his ally Nigel Farage on Wednesday night said that, while the world would be a 'better, more secure place' if the US took Greenland, 'you must respect the rights and views of the Greenlanders'.

Mr Trump also apparently forgot that the US is the only country to have invoked Article 5 of the Nato agreement (an attack on one is an attack on all) after 9/11, and that thousands of servicemen and women died in Afghanistan fighting America's war as 35 member states answered the call.

'The problem with Nato is that we'll be there for them 100 per cent, but I'm not sure that they'd be there for us,' he said. 

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Then, despite having brought world relations to the brink over Greenland, he proceeded to call it Iceland four times. 

'They're not there for us on Iceland, that I can tell you,' he said. 'I mean, our stock market took the first dip [on Wednesday] because of Iceland. So Iceland's already cost us a lot of money.' 

In another moment, he said of Nato: 'Until the last few days when I told them about Iceland, they loved me.' 

The demand for the 'piece of ice' is 'a very small ask compared to what we have given them for many, many decades', he said.

This would be 'just as we have acquired many other territories throughout our history' as 'many of the European nations have'. He also said he would be meeting Volodymyr Zelensky and wants a deal to end the 'bloodbath' in Ukraine.

But he was scathing of Canadian prime minister Mark Carney, who had earlier given a speech railing against a return to 'great powers' using economic coercion. 'Canada gets a lot of freebies from us,' said Mr Trump. 'I watched your prime minister [on Wednesday]. He wasn't so grateful.

'They should be grateful to us. Canada lives because of the United States. Remember that, Mark, next time you make your statements.'

He also mocked Mr Macron, who on Tuesday had given a tough speech against 'bullies' while wearing Top Gun-style aviator sunglasses because of an eye condition.

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'I watched him [on Wednesday] with those beautiful sunglasses,' Mr Trump said. 'What the hell happened?'

He then impersonated the French president's accent, saying, 'I watched him sort of be tough' – before relaying how he had forced Mr Macron and other European leaders back down over pharmaceutical prices, a clear warning over Greenland. 'I actually like him,' he said of Mr Macron. 'Hard to believe, isn't it?'

He then attacked Switzerland in a similar vein, saying 'they make beautiful watches' but were paying 'nothing' when they exported Rolexes to the US.

He warned that he could put tariffs back up to 39 per cent on Swiss firms but 'I don't want to hurt people'.

In a bizarre conclusion to his speech, Mr Trump said he had wanted to renovate America's 'great big gorgeous' battleships from the Second World War until he was told modern ones are '100 times more powerful'.

Turning to the home front, the President said he was 'cutting crime down to nothing' in the US before turning his ire on 'Somalian bandits' – another favourite refrain.

Referring to alleged fraud by the Somali diaspora in Minnesota, the state presided over by Democratic vice-president nominee Tim Walz, he said: 'How did they go into Minnesota and steal all that money?

'You know, they're pirates. They're good pirates, but we shoot them out of the water just like we shoot the drug boats out.'