US President Donald Trump calls announced framework for a deal on Greenland "complex" as details remain unclear. DW has the latest.
Follow below for DW’s coverage of developments concerning Greenland on Thursday, January 21. You can catch up on the news from Wednesday on the issue here.
In his speech at the World Economic Forum, US President Donald Trump again returned to his plans for Greenland, saying Denmark would not be able to secure the island.
DW’s Teri Schultz looks in more detail at his speech.
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In a speech at the World Economic Forum in Davos, Donald Trump announced that a framework deal for the future of Greenland had been reached.
For weeks, he had insisted on acquiring the Danish Arctic island for the US.
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NATO on Thursday said that Mark Rutte had given no ground on Greenland’s sovereignty during meetings with US President Donald, Trump who has taken to loudly exclaiming that the US “must have” the semi-autonomous Danish territory.
“The secretary general did not suggest compromises on Greenland’s sovereignty during his meeting with the president in Davos,” said NATO spokeswoman Allison Hart.
Rutte himself said he had spoken with Trump about how the Arctic could be safeguarded, adding, “We had a very good discussion on that.”
Rutte went on to say that further talks would be held in order to, “make sure when it comes to Greenland particularly, that we ensure that the Chinese and the Russians will not gain access to the Greenland economy of military.”
Trump, who has spoken of the need to fully possess Greenland, said after his meeting with Rutte that he believes NATO allies can come to an agreement that satisfies US desires to create what has been billed a “Golden Dome” missile-defense system, as well as granting the US access to critical minerals on the island territory while at the same time keeping Moscow and Beijing away.
NATO Secretary General Mark Rutte answered “Yes!” on Thursday when asked in Davos if he believed US President Donald Trump is committed to the cause of Ukrainian independence and sovereignty, adding, “I have never doubted this.”
With the world currently focusing so much attention on Trump’s plans to snatch or buy Greenland — and what this might mean for the future of NATO and the EU — Rutte said there is a danger that the pressing issue of Ukraine’s fate at the hands of Russian invaders gets pushed out of the picture as the war nears its fourth anniversary.
“What we need is to keep our eyes on the ball of Ukraine. Let’s not drop that ball,” said the NATO leader.
NATO Secretary-General Mark Rutte warned that “there is still a lot of work to be done” among the parties involved in the row over the control of Greenland.
Rutte made the comments in an interview with US broadcaster Fox News on Wednesday.
The NATO boss said that he and US President Donald Trump agreed that the Arctic region must be jointly protected, during a meeting held on the sidelines of the World Economic Forum (WEF) in Davos.
He added that the issue of whether Greenland would remain with Denmark did not come up in their talks.
“He (Trump) is very much focused on what do we need to do to make sure that that huge Arctic region — where change is taking place at the moment, where the Chinese and the Russians are more and more active — how we can protect it,” Rutte said.
Trump earlier canceled his threats to impose tariffs on several European nations and use them as leverage to take control of the mineral-rich island.
He also ruled out the use of military force to seize Greenland.
Here are some more reactions from Europe:
“The day is ending better than it began,” Danish Foreign Minister Lars Løkke Rasmussen told Danish radio.
“I’m taking two things away from Davos: that Trump says he won’t attack Greenland … and that the tariff war is on standby. That’s positive.”
He posted on X that leaders still needed to “sit down and find out how we can address the American security concerns in the Arctic while respecting the red lines of the Kingdom of Denmark.”
Italy‘s Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni said she “welcomed” the suspension of tariffs scheduled for February 1.
But in a post on X, she stressed that it is “essential to continue fostering dialogue between allied nations.”
Germany‘s Vice Chancellor Lars Klingbeil has blamed international pressure and falling investor confidence for President Donald Trump’s suspension of threatened tariffs on European countries.
“There was growing criticism in the US, and there was growing criticism from Europe and also internationally, and I think that also changed something in Donald Trump,” Klingbeil told Germany’s ZDF broadcaster.
It was important that Europe “made it clear that these are the sovereign interests of Greenland and also Denmark,” Klingbeil said. “There is state integrity and sovereignty, and that will not be shifted.”
He also saw “growing uncertainty” about investing in the United States which triggered “nervousness in the United States,” said Klingbeil, who is also Germany’s finance minister.
Klingbeil made the comments after Trump announced waiving the tariffs because of reaching a deal with NATO over Greenland.
After what Klingbeil called “the back and forth of the last few days,” he warned of too much optimism.
“We have to wait a bit and not get our hopes up too soon,” he said.
“We are now waiting to see what substantive agreement Mr. Rutte and Mr. Trump will reach.”
US correspondent Mischa Komadovsky tells DW News that the Greenland framework rests on four core elements. Watch for more:
Trump told US broadcaster CNN that “everybody’s very happy with the deal” and that it “gives us everything we needed to get.”
But Aaja Chemnitz, a Greenlandic Inuit member of Denmark’s parliament, didn’t sound too happy in a Facebook post she published after Trump’s announcement.
“What we are witnessing these days in Trump’s statements is completely crazy,” she wrote.
“NATO has no mandate whatsoever to negotiate anything without us from Greenland,” she added. “Nothing about us without us.”
“Total confusion is being created,” she said.
Here’s a quick recap to get you up to speed on the latest around Greenland.
Late Wednesday evening, President Donald Trump posted on his Truth Social that the US and NATO had “formed the framework of a future deal with respect to Greenland and, in fact, the entire Arctic Region.”
The announcement came after talks with NATO head Mark Rutte at the World Economic Forum in Davos.
Later asked by a reporter about whether the deal fulfilled his desire for the United States to own Greenland, Trump said the matter was a “little bit complex.”
For his part, Rutte said in an interview that the issue of Denmark’s sovereignty hadn’t “come up.”
Countries including Denmark, Italy and the Netherlands said Trump’s decision to suspend tariffs on eight European nations was positive.
The tariffs were scheduled to start on February 1, but Trump said he wouldn’t be imposing the tariffs because of the new deal.
Earlier at Davos, Trump said in a speech that he wouldn’t use “excessive strength and force [to take control on Greenland] where we would be, frankly unstoppable.”
Good morning and welcome to our blog on the situation regarding Greenland.
On Wednesday, European lawmakers suspended the approval of a trade deal reached with the US last year in July, as the US built up a push to control Greenland.
Hours after that, US President Donald Trump said he was going to back away from imposing tariffs on eight European countries after citing a “productive” meeting with NATO Secretary-General Mark Rutte, with whom he said he formed a “framework of a future deal” over Greenland.
On Thursday, European leaders are meant to come together in Brussels for what was billed last weekend as an emergency summit in response to Trump’s tariff threat.
We know that Antonio Costa, president of the European Council, sent out invitations to the heads of government of all 27 member states for an informal meeting over dinner, scheduled to take place later this evening in Brussels.
We’ll keep you posted.