{"id":26789,"date":"2026-01-21T19:36:26","date_gmt":"2026-01-21T18:36:26","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/kaizen-blog.org\/?p=26789"},"modified":"2026-01-21T19:50:14","modified_gmt":"2026-01-21T18:50:14","slug":"nachbetrachtung-trump-in-davos-groenland-forderung-heute-ohne-militaergewalt-aber-mit-klarer-drohung","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/kaizen-blog.org\/en\/nachbetrachtung-trump-in-davos-groenland-forderung-heute-ohne-militaergewalt-aber-mit-klarer-drohung\/","title":{"rendered":"Afterthought: Trump in Davos \u2013 Greenland demand today without military force, but with a clear threat"},"content":{"rendered":"

Donald Trump delivered a remarkable speech on Wednesday at the World Economic Forum in Davos that makes his leadership style in his second term unmistakably clear: he wants Greenland for the United States \u2013 if necessary through massive economic pressure on Europe. Before assembled heads of state and government, billionaires and business leaders, Trump repeated his demand for the Danish island. While he ruled out the use of military force, he made it unambiguously clear that European allies would pay a price if they stood in his way.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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\u201cWe will probably get nothing unless I decide to use excessive strength and force, at which point we would honestly be unstoppable,\u201d Trump said. \u201cBut I will not do that. That is probably the most important statement, because people thought I would use violence. I do not have to use violence. I do not want to use violence. I will not use violence.\u201d What initially sounded like an all clear quickly revealed itself as a classic Trump tactic: one hand soothes while the other threatens. Just a few sentences later, he reminded listeners that he had already unilaterally imposed tariffs on European imports and that more could follow. Denmark and several European countries that have stood up for Danish sovereignty over Greenland he has already threatened with higher levies.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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\u201cYou have a choice,\u201d Trump said, addressing the European states. \u201cYou can say yes, and we will be very grateful. Or you can say no. We will remember.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The hour long speech oscillated between praise and contempt for Europe. Trump spoke of his love for European countries, while at the same time criticizing their immigration policies and their turn toward renewable energy such as wind and solar power. He claimed European economies and security would collapse without American support. \u201cWithout us, most countries do not function at all,\u201d Trump said. He supplied the rationale for his Greenland claim as well: only the United States was strong enough to protect the island from external threats. That defense, however, made sense only if the US owned Greenland, not merely leased it. He demanded \u201cimmediate negotiations\u201d over transferring the island from Denmark to the United States.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Reactions from Europe varied. Rasmus Jarlov, chairman of the defense committee in the Danish parliament, was unimpressed: \u201cI am glad that he rules out military force. I did not see any escalation in his remarks today. He insists that he wants Greenland, but that is not new. Of course we continue to insist that we will not hand over Greenland.\u201d The European Parliament reacted more sharply: it officially suspended work on implementing the trade agreement concluded with the US last year. Bernd Lange, who chairs the committee on international trade, said it was \u201ccompletely clear\u201d that Trump had broken the agreement by threatening new tariffs on several European countries.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

French President Emmanuel Macron also drew Trump\u2019s attention. The US president repeated a story about pharmaceutical prices in France and claimed he had threatened Macron with tariffs \u2013 including 100 percent on wine. \u201cIt took three minutes for him to agree,\u201d Trump said. The Elysee Palace dismissed this as \u201cfake news.\u201d In a statement on X, Macron\u2019s office clarified that the president does not set pharmaceutical prices. \u201cThese are regulated by the social security system and have in fact remained stable. Anyone who has ever entered a French pharmacy knows that.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Canada\u2019s prime minister Mark Carney also took a hit. Trump criticized Carney\u2019s speech from the previous day, in which he described the end of the US led world order and called for middle powers to band together. \u201cCanada gets a lot of benefits from us. By the way, they should also be grateful, but they are not,\u201d Trump said. \u201cI watched your prime minister yesterday. He was not very grateful \u2013 they should be grateful to us, Canada. Canada lives because of the United States. Remember that, Mark, the next time you make your statements.\u201d The day before, Carney had said: \u201cEvery day we are reminded that we live in an era of rivalry between great powers. That the rules based order is fading. That the strong can do what they can and the weak suffer what they must.\u201d Without naming Trump or the United States, he warned: \u201cMiddle powers must act together, because if we are not at the table, we are on the menu.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Amid all the attention on the Greenland demand, another issue received far less scrutiny: Trump had announced that he would present a major proposal on housing affordability in Davos. What followed, however, was thin. He repeated several familiar ideas \u2014 such as allowing homebuyers to tap their retirement savings for a down payment \u2014 and criticized Wall Street for its role in the housing market. The most concrete outcome was an executive order issued Tuesday evening directing multiple federal agencies to develop, within 60 days, guidelines on how to discourage institutional investors from purchasing single-family homes. Only about three percent of single-family homes are owned by large investors with more than 1,000 properties, while roughly 85 percent are owner-occupied.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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\u201cAmerica will not become a nation of renters. We will not allow that,\u201d Trump promised.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

A curious detail went unnoticed in the long speech: Trump repeatedly confused Greenland with Iceland. \u201cI help Europe, I help NATO, and until a few days ago, when I told them about Iceland, they loved me,\u201d he said. It is precisely the tensions over Greenland, not Iceland, that are causing unrest. The day before, he had told reporters at the White House: \u201cFor example, without tariffs they would not even talk to us about Iceland.\u201d Greenland\u2019s government responded to the ongoing threats with practical measures: on Wednesday it published for the first time a brochure urging households to keep supplies for five days of self sufficiency in case of crisis. The government did not directly mention Trump\u2019s remarks, but cited power outages as the reason for the recommendation.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The speech in Davos showed Trump\u2019s strategy for his second term: he relies on a mix of intimidation and humiliation of long standing allies to push through goals he apparently sees as a key part of his legacy \u2013 the expansion of American territory. The question that remains after Davos: how long will Europe\u2019s governments oscillate between appeasement and resistance before finding a common response to Trump\u2019s new foreign policy, or \u201cdo we really want that?\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Our investigations and our commitment will continue. The consequences of this policy must not be overlooked for a single day \u2013 not as long as innocent people sit in prisons, not as long as help is denied where it is urgently needed. Europe stands before an upheaval that demands cohesion, not looking away. Right wing populism is not an abstract danger, it acts daily and destructively. We experience this on the front line. Yet precisely there, support is most lacking \u2013 for those who look, document, and object.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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That this struggle is worth it is proven by the facts. Donald Trump has lost around 83 percent of all court cases brought against him. More than 40 percent of these decisions have already been implemented. Law works when it is used. Truth prevails when it is pursued persistently. The path there is called objectivity, endurance, and a clear focus on what matters \u2013 not distraction, not outrage loops. What must not paralyze us is the deliberate flooding with side issues, with serial noise, with the familiar Bannon strategy of escalating everything at once so that nothing remains tangible. That is exactly what we work against. Quietly, precisely, every day. But this path is only possible if we do not have to walk it alone. Anyone who reads our work, shares it, or considers it important helps us most by making it possible. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

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