Trump presses Greenland claim, criticizes UK Chagos deal (Full Transcript)

[00:00:00] Speaker 1: President Trump has fired off more social media posts asserting his desire to take over Greenland as he prepares to meet European leaders in Switzerland. He marks the one-year anniversary of his return to the White House with a barrage of comments on Truth Social. Well, there's plenty to worry European and world leaders, not least this image that possibly sums up his expansionist vision for America. The AI-generated image that he posted on Truth Social shows the president planting the US flag on Greenland, while this one, also generated by AI, shows European leaders in the Oval Office and President Trump revealing a map that shows Greenland, Venezuela, and Canada as parts of the United States. And if all that wasn't concerning enough for Prime Minister Seguiristama, in another Truth Social post, President Trump has called the UK's decision to hand the Chagos Islands to Mauritius as an act of great stupidity. Well, the United States has a military base on one of the islands, Diego Garcia, and Mr Trump said that the Prime Minister was being weak in abiding by a ruling by the UN's highest court that British occupation of the territory was illegal. Mr Trump's administration had supported the transfer less than nine months ago. And in just the last few moments, the government here has issued its response, saying that the UK will never compromise on our national security, adding that the deal it reached secures the operation of the joint US-UK military base on Diego Garcia for generations. Well, more on that in a moment. So, as we said, President Trump has doubled down on his threats of tariffs, unless European leaders agree to the US taking over Greenland. Here he is last night.

[00:01:51] Speaker 2: Well, I don't think they're gonna wish back too much. Look, we have to have it. They have to have this done. They can't protect it. Denmark, they're wonderful people. And I know the leaders, they're very good people, but they don't even go there. And, you know, because a boat went there 500 years ago and then left, that doesn't give you title to property.

[00:02:15] Speaker 1: Donald Trump reiterating his concern over the Greenlands, issuing those tariffs in response. The Netherlands are among the cohort of EU member states who, along with the UK, are being targeted by those tariffs. The Dutch foreign minister, David Van Riel, joins us from Davos. We are hoping to speak to him. He is in Davos, but at the moment, we're just struggling to get the line up. But like I say, the Netherlands are one of those countries that Donald Trump is targeting. A number of EU countries, including France and Germany, and, of course, also the UK. Well, Robert Moran is partner at the Brunswick Group. He's a former Republican pollster and strategist. He is discussing the likelihood of Donald Trump reducing his demand when it comes to Greenland at the World Economic Forum.

[00:03:10] Speaker 3: The president has a traditional bargaining strategy where he makes a big demand and then backs off of it and then settles for something less or settles for something else that he wanted. It's interesting, he's actually the fourth US president to attempt to purchase or somehow gain control of Greenland. So it was Andrew Johnson, then William Howard Taft, then Harry S. Truman, and now Donald Trump. And they've wanted it for different reasons and attempted to buy it most recently with Harry Truman offering 100 million to Denmark back in 1946. So this is a longer arc of history in the making here, but certainly with a new flair for the current president. There's a bigger question here. There's the acronym TACO, Trump Always Chickens Out, that people in America have been using now. And the question is, will he back off of that? I suspect he will, and I suspect the fallback is really just territorial control for national security. And so you would achieve that by simply having more military base presence there. And so I think that's the end goal. But who knows, perhaps he'll make an offer that's so much money that Denmark might consider.

[00:04:32] Speaker 1: Well, of course, we'll be bringing you reaction throughout the day, and we are hoping to speak to the Dutch foreign minister. He's joining us from Davos imminently. But as we know, the White House has said that the president is confident that Greenlanders would be better served if protected by the United States from modern threats in the Arctic region. Paul Adams now looks at why Greenland is so strategically important.

[00:04:57] Speaker 4: It's a vast island of ice, home to just 57,000 people. So why does Greenland matter? Sitting between North America and Russia, Greenland's strategic significance has long been recognised. During the Cold War, the US had bases here. There were 10,000 military personnel at Batufik. Now there are only around 150 people left. But Donald Trump says today's threats mean America needs to control Greenland. One reason is this. It's at the northern end of a key naval choke point known as the Greenland-Iceland-UK gap. Russian submarines heading into the North Atlantic have to come this way. For a president intent on dominating the Western Hemisphere, Greenland represents a kind of gateway. And that's key. He's determined to keep rivals out of his backyard. Just look at his latest national security strategy. The United States must be preeminent in the Western Hemisphere as a condition of our security and prosperity. That doctrine was on full display just over two weeks ago when American forces attacked the Venezuelan capital and arrested the country's president. But if it's vital for the US to keep enemies away from Greenland, why can't NATO handle it? After all, it is the North Atlantic Alliance. Donald Trump says Denmark isn't doing enough. And the White House wasn't impressed last week by the arrival of a handful of troops from some of NATO's European members.

[00:06:19] Speaker 5: Countries have to have ownership. And you defend ownership, you don't defend leases. And we'll have to defend Greenland.

[00:06:26] Speaker 4: The office of president... From his second inauguration speech onwards, Donald Trump has spoken about expanding America's influence and its territory. Now he says the world will not be secure unless America has complete and total control of Greenland. Paul Adams, BBC News.

[00:06:44] Speaker 1: So that is why Greenland is so strategically important. And we're expecting Donald Trump at Davos in the next few days. He's going to be giving a speech there on Wednesday. We're expecting him to say and reiterate to European leaders who are gathering there that the US have to have Greenland. And we also showed you those social media posts. Actually, I can also tell you that he also shared a message apparently from Emmanuel Macron, the French president, when he is asking the US president, I do not understand what you are doing on Greenland. So arguably undermining the French leader because he is sharing those what arguably should be private messages very, very publicly. And we're just hearing that Greenland's political leaders are saying that we would like to emphasise once again our desire for the US's disregard for our country to end. We do not want to be Americans. We do not want to be Danes. We want to be Greenlanders. That was sent a joint statement from Greenland's party leaders, including opposition leaders. We stand together as a people. That line just dropping. We know that, of course, when it comes to some form of autonomy over Greenland, they have to discuss it with Denmark first because Greenland is a semi-autonomous territory of the Kingdom of Denmark. An awful lot to discuss. Let's cross over to Westminster. Our chief political correspondent, Henry Zeffman, joins us now. Henry, the president has been somewhat busy overnight with his Truth Social post. We're going to come to the Chagos Islands in just a moment. But obviously, when it comes to his desire over Greenland, he is really drilling down into that. No change there. And we're expecting him to fully go for it when he addresses Davos on Wednesday.

[00:08:40] Speaker 6: Yeah, absolutely no sign whatsoever that Donald Trump is backing away from his desire to have Greenland as part of the US. When you mentioned Truth Social, his own social network, well, he posted on there an AI-generated photo of various European leaders, including Sir Keir Starmer and Volodymyr Zelensky as well, I think, actually, around the desk of the Oval Office while he, President Trump, showed them a map of the US. And the territory of the US was shaded in with the stars and stripes. And it included not just the US, but Greenland, and not just Greenland, but Canada, and Venezuela as well. As ever with President Trump, I mean, he's probably the most analysed world leader in the history of the world. I mean, we don't know the extent to which it's a joke, to which it's trolling, to which it's serious, to which he should be taken literally not seriously or seriously not literally, or whatever that cliche is. But what I think is pretty clear is that European leaders, including Sir Keir Starmer, are racing to try to de-escalate things. And President Trump appears to be in no mood to follow suit.

[00:09:46] Speaker 1: Yeah, Henry, the mantra there is you take, you do not take, I'm going to get it wrong now, you do not take Donald Trump literally, but you do take him seriously. Henry, yesterday, we saw Donald Trump bringing together the opposition in support of the government, saying that tariffs were bad. Today, we're seeing that split along party lines over the Chagos Islands. Donald Trump saying that the UK handing over sovereignty of the Chagos Islands to Mauritius is an act of great stupidity. A lot of reaction led by the Conservative leader, Kemi Badenoch.

[00:10:21] Speaker 6: I mean, just before we come to the reaction momentarily, let's just dwell on what an extraordinarily big deal this is. Sure, it's a big deal for the Chagos Islands, which there was a lot of political heat over in 2025. But in May 2025, the US administration of President Donald J. Trump essentially ended a big part of that political row by saying that they supported the deal that the UK had struck with Mauritius, that they felt that that did safeguard the security of the big base that the US has on Diego Garcia. So Donald Trump reversing that is significant. But I think what is more significant is that this is a stream of invective from President Trump towards Sir Keir Starmer. Less than 24 hours after Sir Keir Starmer gave a big speech in Downing Street talking about how calm the relationship between the two allies was and defending the basis on which he's approached it. Well, you have to say the approach which Keir Starmer has taken over the past year, and it is a year today that President Trump has been back in the Oval Office, looks very, very difficult now. Because he wanted to forge a strong rapport with him in order to influence him. Well, the rapport appears to have gone, and I think plenty of people will be questioning where that influence is. You mentioned reaction. The Conservative Party, Kemi Bainock, trying to walk a fairly difficult tightrope because she says, I think in her message, unfortunately President Trump is right about the Chagos Islands. Essentially what she's saying there is he happens to agree with her on this, but she is maintaining her objections and her support for Keir Starmer in how he's approaching Greenland. Nigel Farage of Reform UK, much more unequivocally in support of what President Trump has said today. And then I think on the other side of the political spectrum, you'll hear probably over the course of the day from the Liberal Democrats and the Greens who will say, well, this shows that Keir Starmer needs to take a much tougher line on President Trump.

[00:12:12] Speaker 1: Henry, all leaders, whatever political persuasion, trying to find their way through all of this. As always, our Chief Political Correspondent with all the very latest from Westminster, Henry Zephyrman, thank you so much.