The US president used his speech at Davos to call for talks on his request to annex Greenland.
Published January 21, 2026
U.S. President Donald Trump has denied using force to seize Greenland, but has called for talks over demands for control of the island.
In a much-anticipated speech Wednesday at the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland, President Trump insisted that annexing the autonomous Danish territory was critical to U.S. national security, despite widespread rejection of demands from Greenlanders and European leaders.
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“People expected me to use force. I don’t need to use force. I don’t want to use force. I won’t use force,” he said.
The president said he was “calling for immediate negotiations to once again discuss the acquisition of Greenland by the United States,” adding that Denmark had to make a “choice.”
“If you say yes, we will be very grateful. Or if you say no, we will never forget. A strong and secure America means a strong NATO.”
Referring to the Arctic islands, President Trump claimed that only the United States can “protect this huge piece of land, this huge piece of ice.”
President Trump appeared to mistakenly refer to Greenland as Iceland several times during his more than hour-long speech.
Christine Nissen, chief analyst at the European think tank, told Al Jazeera that Trump’s insistence that he would not use force could be seen by Denmark as a potential de-escalation.
“We’ve seen how European countries and Denmark and others have changed their strategies toward President Trump regarding the Greenland issue,” Nissen said. “Europe and Denmark used to be very cautious because they had a very deep structural dependence on the United States, but now we’re seeing a change in strategy.”
He added that the rift between Europe and the US over Greenland “has made Europe quite unified, but only time will tell whether it will remain that way.”
European leaders, including Britain, France and Denmark, continue to stand together to protect Greenland’s status, despite President Trump’s previous threat to impose tariffs on European countries over the issue.
