Trump promises not to use force to take Greenland but still wants it to be part of US

President Donald Trump said he would not seek to annex Greenland with military force but called for “immediate negotiations” aimed at a deal for the U.S. to acquire the Arctic territory, which both Danish and Greenlandic authorities have said is not for sale.

Speaking Wednesday at the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland, the president claimed the U.S. could have retained control over Greenland after deploying troops there during the Second World War to keep the island out of Nazi Germany’s hands.

Trump criticized U.S. leaders at the time for relinquishing the Danish-held territory, calling his predecessors “stupid” for doing so and accusing Copenhagen of being “ungrateful” in return.

He also said the U.S. would be “unstoppable” in any attempt to seize the island but disclaimed any interest in doing so.

"I don't want to use force. I won't use force. All the United States is asking for is a place called Greenland ... It's the United States alone that can protect this giant mass of land, this giant piece of ice, develop it and improve it and make it so that it's good for Europe and safe for Europe and good for us,” Trump said.

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

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The 79-year-old president continued riffing on his desire to take control of the island despite a 1917 treaty between the U.S. and Denmark in which the U.S. renounced any claim to Greenland in exchange for being permitted to purchase what are now the U.S. Virgin Islands.

He suggested America needed “right title and ownership”to properly defend the island even though a 1951 defense agreement allows unlimited basing rights there because “you can’t defend it on a lease” and for “psychological” reasons.

Trump then appeared to threaten Denmark and other countries if they did not accede to his demand for talks, telling Davos attendees: "You can say yes, and we will be very appreciative. Or you can say no, and we will remember.”

The president’s bellicose remarks were part of an extended set of freewheeling riffs rife with attacks on America’s longtime allies in Europe and NATO, delivered not long after the president arrived after a late-night flight that had been delayed by the need to change planes after the modified 747 normally used as Air Force One developed what the White House said was an electrical fault.

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At the outset of his speech, Trump renewed criticism of European leaders for allowing too many immigrants from non-white countries to live there.

He also called Canada, one of America’s closest allies, “ungrateful” in response to a speech by Prime Minister Mark Carney the previous day in which Carney lamented America’s unreliability under Trump’s administration.

“Canada lives because of the United States — remember that, Mark, the next time you make your statements,” Trump said.

Even as he threatened Europe over Greenland, Trump on three occasions confused it with Iceland, another NATO member, and he appeared to forget that NATO members rallied to America’s defense after the September 11 attacks on New York and Washington when he suggested that he was “not sure they’d be there” if the U.S. is attacked going forward.

“With all of the money we expend, with all of the blood, sweat and tears, I don't know that they'd be there for us,” he said.

Trump also claimed people in the Swiss mountain resort town would “all be speaking German” without previous U.S. assistance during the Second World War, seemingly ignorant of the fact that German is one of Switzerland’s three official languages and is widely spoken in the country.