Trump Walks Back Greenland Threats, Cites Deal Framework (Full Transcript)

[00:00:00] Speaker 1: Days after stunning his European allies by suggesting he'd use military force to take Greenland and impose tariffs on European opponents of his plan, President Trump has had second thoughts, ruling out force and dropping his tariffs threat. And tonight he said he'd formed the framework of a future deal on Greenland after meeting NATO's Secretary General, which he described as a long-term deal. Earlier in the Swiss resort of Davos, during a wide-ranging and sometimes meandering speech, the President boasted about the US economy, attacked world leaders and people from Somalia and criticised Europe on immigration and energy. In a moment we'll hear from Faisal Islam in Davos about reactions to the President's speech, but first here's Sarah Smith.

[00:00:44] Speaker 2: Well thank you very much, it's an honour.

[00:00:46] Speaker 3: It was when the whole of the US team sat down to talks with NATO representatives were told a deal was struck. Donald Trump does get on very well with the Secretary General and somehow, together, they found an answer to the Greenland problem. Shortly afterwards President Trump posted saying, We've formed the framework of a future deal with respect to Greenland and in fact the entire Arctic region. He went on, There was then a hurried scramble to ask the man himself, what's in this agreement? Does it mean America will own Greenland? He didn't give much detail.

[00:01:33] Speaker 2: I think it puts everybody in a really good position. Especially as it pertains to security and minerals under the negotiations.

[00:01:42] Speaker 3: The day began with frosty relations between the US President and assembled world leaders, who had openly derided his desire to take control of Greenland. There were long queues for the chance to witness what was turning into a high-stakes dispute between the US and Europe, which the President thought was funny.

[00:01:59] Speaker 2: Would you like me to say a few words of Greenland? I was going to leave it out of the speech but I thought, I think I would have been reviewed very negatively.

[00:02:10] Speaker 3: All joking aside, there was a collective sigh of relief when he said he will not use military force to seize Greenland.

[00:02:18] Speaker 2: We never asked for anything and we never got anything. We probably won't get anything unless I decide to use excessive strength and force where we would be, frankly, unstoppable. But I won't do that. Now everyone is saying, oh good. That's probably the biggest statement I made because people thought I would use force. I don't have to use force, I don't want to use force, I won't use force.

[00:02:47] Speaker 3: He's ruling out the use of force but not backing down. For the first time, Mr Trump laid out a considered case for why he believes it's essential for the US to control Greenland's key geographic location.

[00:02:59] Speaker 2: We need it for strategic national security and international security. This enormous unsecured island is actually part of North America on the northern frontier of the Western Hemisphere. That's our territory. It is therefore a core national security interest of the United States of America.

[00:03:22] Speaker 3: President Trump thinks Greenland should be America's by right and he repeated his desire to own the territory.

[00:03:28] Speaker 2: And that's the reason I'm seeking immediate negotiations to once again discuss the acquisition of Greenland by the United States. Just as we have acquired many other territories throughout our history, as many of the European nations have. They've acquired, there's nothing wrong with it.

[00:03:45] Speaker 3: Donald Trump's argument is laced with familiar grievance and resentment. He complained that Denmark's not grateful for America's role in saving Greenland during World War II. He thinks the US spends too much money on defending its allies. And he doesn't believe other NATO countries would come to its rescue if they were asked to. The US, he said, should never have given Greenland back after defending it during the Second World War.

[00:04:10] Speaker 2: But we saved Greenland and successfully prevented our enemies from gaining a foothold in our hemisphere. So we did it for ourselves also. And then after the war, which we won, we won it big. Without us, right now, you'd all be speaking German and a little Japanese perhaps.

[00:04:31] Speaker 3: Smarting from criticism from other world leaders attending this summit, he swiped back at people like the Canadian PM.

[00:04:38] Speaker 2: We're going to be defending Canada. Canada gets a lot of freebies from us, by the way. They should be grateful also, but they're not. I watched your prime minister yesterday. He wasn't so grateful. They should be grateful to us. Canada lives because of the United States. Remember that, Mark, the next time you make your statements.

[00:05:00] Speaker 3: And there was a slightly ominous warning to Denmark and anyone else who tries to stand in his way.

[00:05:06] Speaker 2: They have a choice. You can say yes, and we will be very appreciative. Or you can say no, and we will remember.

[00:05:16] Speaker 3: This was vintage Trump, over an hour of bombastic claims and thinly-veiled threats. Several times he called Greenland Iceland by mistake. Before striking a deal, he claims it will give him everything he wants, but doesn't appear to involve ownership of the Arctic territory.

[00:05:34] Speaker 1: We can join Sarah at the White House now. Sarah, as you said, some fighting talk from Donald Trump. But did we witness a climb down there?

[00:05:44] Speaker 3: Well, it seems as though it may be. It depends, of course, on the details of exactly what's in this deal, and they've yet to be hammered out. And you heard Donald Trump there saying it does give him everything he wanted to get. But earlier in that speech, just hours before he announced that a deal had been done, he said you need ownership to defend it, talking about Greenland. He said who wants to defend a license agreement or a lease? And then after he posted that a deal had been done, he was asked by a reporter, does this mean that America will own Greenland? And he dodged that question by saying this is a very, very long-term lease, it's infinite, it's forever, which doesn't sound like ownership. So can he claim this as a victory? Well, we won't know until we see exactly what the deal is. But for somebody who had been so insistent that he needed to acquire and own Greenland, it doesn't seem tonight as though that is the deal that he's managed to strike, and yet he's saying he's very, very happy with it.

[00:06:43] Speaker 1: Sarah, thank you. Sarah Smith there at the White House. Well, Faisal Islam was in the room in Davos as President Trump delivered that speech, and he spoke to members of the audience afterwards for their reaction. He joins us now. How did the speech go down, Faisal?

[00:06:59] Speaker 4: Well, occasionally in this job you feel like you're being a witness to a type of history, and that's what it felt like today in that Congress Hall earlier this afternoon. Because Donald Trump arrived, as you've heard there from Sarah, with a message. It seemed to be that he was trying to be diplomatic. That's how it was read by many people in the room. Yes, a form of climb-down. He tried a bit of charm, some of it was reciprocated, but he also still fundamentally said that he wanted to acquire Greenland. He still fundamentally criticised a lot of Europe. Some of his cabinet ministers have been saying similar and been suffering from walkouts, like the Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick. And tonight I spoke to a G7 leader who said, we feel relief right now, but what is he going to say tomorrow? So this is what I heard on an extraordinary day. High security, high stakes and some high tension in the Alps for the arrival of the would-be sheriff of the world and his new rules. Mr Wyckoff is seizing Greenland. The Trump team remaining tight-lipped. Not every American here was watching. Can we ask you about the President's arrival today? No comment. Some important figures were multitasking. The Chancellor, Rachel Reeves, had made clear to the BBC that tariff retaliation couldn't be ruled out. All I want is a piece of ice. Donald Trump has asked Europe for Greenland. Here he is here. Are you a man of peace, Donald Trump?

[00:08:30] Speaker 2: National and international defence. Without it, you really can't have great international defence. So it's very important.

[00:08:37] Speaker 4: He said he wouldn't use force. But what does that promise mean? There must be a response to Donald Trump. It's not my job any more. The reactions from those in the hall were somewhat muted from Europeans. What do you make of Donald Trump? And mixed from key American voices.

[00:08:53] Speaker 5: And that was a pivot. He's back, you know. Chickening out. This is Taco Tuesday. Why do you all make it so complicated?

[00:08:59] Speaker 4: It still sounds quite threatening that he wants to acquire Greenland.

[00:09:02] Speaker 5: But why do you react that way? It's so exhausting. Greenland is a sovereign part of Europe. Exactly. So don't act like it. Thank you.

[00:09:09] Speaker 4: Is Greenland going to be American, do you think?

[00:09:13] Speaker 6: No, I don't think so.

[00:09:14] Speaker 4: The key Republican senator, Tom Tillis, said the president's pursuit of Greenland would not be supported. What should we make of your president's general tone?

[00:09:24] Speaker 6: I didn't like the tone. I think that the NATO alliance is critically important. The tone should have been balanced.

[00:09:31] Speaker 4: Should we trust Trump? While Trump's big tech backer, Palantir's Alex Karp, didn't want to talk Greenland, the president himself was, long after his speech, telling Europe and the UK to change policy in general.

[00:09:44] Speaker 7: But they have to change their ways or they're going to... It's not a trade deal, but that makes no sense. Between immigration and energy, if they don't change, bad things will happen to you. Thank you very much.

[00:09:55] Speaker 4: The president did attempt to dial down tensions, but he also criticised allies, including leaders, personally. And he promised no invasion of Greenland, but it will be part of a new America, he says, that the world should accept. This is not over.

[00:10:14] Speaker 1: Well, let's take stock with our political editor, Chris Mason, and our Europe editor, Katja Adler. Chris, first of all, will Downing Street be taking some of the credit for this turnaround on Greenland?

[00:10:24] Speaker 8: I detect tonight, Rita, a quiet pride within the government that they've played a contribution, alongside European neighbours, to this blitz of diplomacy over the last few hours and days. I hear that kind of every diplomacy lever was pulled at every ministerial level, official level, and in embassies too. And then politically for the Prime Minister, there's been real jeopardy. So he came out on Monday morning, didn't he, in front of the cameras, talked about a desire for calm discussion. But the reality was there was that big fundamental disagreement around the sovereignty of Greenland that he felt the Prime Minister, he had to articulate publicly, taking a different position from the president, which he's tried to resist doing, knowing full well that that might mean some blowback. And, of course, 24 hours later yesterday, that's precisely what happened. Heading into today, the Prime Minister decided to notch up his language and his tone at Prime Minister's questions, talking about not yielding around this whole question for Greenland. That itself also not without risk. And all of this happening when he domestically would much rather be talking about domestic issues such as the cost of living. So I think tonight they will reflect that they, the UK government and indeed others, have been sort of brutally reminded of America's brute force, particularly when articulated by a president more than happy to be brutish in his tone, and then wondering what other diplomatic grenade could come from the Oval Office at any point in the future.

[00:11:51] Speaker 1: And, Katya, it does feel like a big de-escalation tonight between the US and Europe, but can relations go back to normal after this?

[00:11:59] Speaker 9: I think, Rita, that sense of imminent transatlantic crisis that has passed. But talking to diplomats over the last hour or so, I really get the sense that three things have changed for the Europeans. One of them is trust. They were really shocked over the Greenland crisis, European leaders. They got used to Donald Trump being brash or bullish or unpredictable, but the fact that he turned on a fellow NATO ally, Denmark in this case, and threatened its national sovereignty, the fact that he was willing to turn around to other allies and threaten them with economic sanctions if they didn't play ball, that is seared into their memories, which leads me to the second thing that I think is changing, because up until now we got used to this softly, softly approach from European leaders with Donald Trump cajoling him, trying to keep him on side. But Europeans are absolutely convinced he would not have climbed down on his maximalist demands if the EU hadn't been willing to play hard ball. It absolutely threatens severe economic sanctions that would probably have really hurt American businesses and eventually American consumers as well. So I detect a change in attitude going forward. And the third thing is something we've heard European leaders talk a lot about, but they haven't walked the walk, and that's about having more self-reliance in defence and other things. I think a reason that some of European leaders didn't act tougher, faster over Greenland is because this continent relies on the United States for its security. So they were nervous about alienating Washington. And going forward, they just don't want to have their hands tied behind their back like that. And finally, I'll tell you someone else who's really breathing a sigh of relief tonight, and that's Ukraine's president. Volodymyr Zelensky was really worried that the Greenland crisis sucked the oxygen out of international attention on Russia's ongoing aggression. He's coming to Switzerland and will be talking to the American president tomorrow.

[00:13:47] Speaker 1: Katya, Chris, as always, thank you both so much. Thank you.