AILSA CHANG, HOST:
President Trump arrived at the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland, today. His insistent push for the U.S. to own Greenland has captured the world's attention. And he made news at this forum, ruling out, at least for now, the use of military force.
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PRESIDENT DONALD TRUMP: 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, OK? Now everyone's saying, oh, good. That's probably the biggest statement I made 'cause 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.
CHANG: Trump also ended up backing down from an earlier threat of higher tariffs on eight European countries. We're joined now by NPR senior White House correspondent Tamara Keith, who's been monitoring Trump's remarks from Washington. Hi, Tam.
TAMARA KEITH, BYLINE: Hey, Ailsa.
CHANG: OK, let's start with Greenland. It's a territory of Denmark, which is, of course, a member of NATO. Denmark's a U.S. ally. How did Trump today reexplain his desire for the U.S. to take over Greenland?
KEITH: Well, he said it is in the Western Hemisphere and is strategically important for U.S. national security. He insisted the U.S. is the only country with the strength to defend it, develop it and improve it. He called for immediate negotiations to discuss U.S. acquisition.
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TRUMP: And all we're asking for is to get Greenland, including right, title and ownership because you need the ownership to defend it. You can't defend it on a lease.
KEITH: He called this a very small ask. But, in fact, it has caused a major rift with U.S. allies in Europe. And this would be a good time to note that NATO has a mutual defense agreement, and the only time it has been invoked was after 9/11 when European countries helped the United States.
CHANG: That's right. And at this point, Tam, is it fair to say that the U.S. commitment to NATO has been totally thrown into question by President Trump's Greenland request?
KEITH: Yeah. You know, Trump has long played coy with his commitment to NATO and has often been quite critical of other countries in the alliance. And now with Greenland at center stage, leaders of longtime U.S. allies are very openly questioning the reliability of the United States. Meanwhile, in this Davos speech, Trump called both Denmark and Canada ungrateful and questioned the value of the alliance to the U.S.
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TRUMP: I don't know that they'd be there for us. They're not there for us on Iceland, that I can tell you. I mean, our stock market took the first dip yesterday because of Iceland. So Iceland's already cost us a lot of money.
KEITH: So there are two notable things about that clip. The president repeatedly said Iceland when he meant to say Greenland, which the press secretary then denied ever happened. And Trump also showed his hand a bit. The markets have not reacted well to his Greenland escalation, and he is very sensitive to the markets. In fact, stocks rose today on news that President Trump was ruling out the use of military force.
CHANG: I'm glad you clarified there, Tam, 'cause I was confused by his mention of Iceland. OK, we also mentioned that Trump backed down from an earlier threat of higher tariffs. I saw that Trump wrote in a social media post that he had a framework for some sort of future deal on Greenland. Do we know what that framework looks like and how it came about?
KEITH: Yeah. The NATO secretary general, Mark Rutte, has been something of a Trump whisperer in this second term, largely by piling on praise. And the two met just hours after Trump's speech. And with cameras rolling, Rutte told Trump it pained him to think that the president doubted NATO's commitment to the U.S. Trump now says they have a concept of a deal, though there was no mention of the U.S. actually owning Greenland as he had been demanding. He dodged questions about that, simply saying it would be an infinite deal.
CHANG: That is NPR's Tamara Keith. Thank you so much, Tam.
KEITH: You're welcome. Transcript provided by NPR, Copyright NPR.
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