Trump announces Greenland framework, backs off 8-nation tariffs

President Donald Trump announced in a social media post Wednesday that he and NATO Secretary General Mark Rutte brokered a possible agreement on Greenland, though Trump provided few details and no timeline.

Trump’s comments came just hours after he took his case for acquiring the Arctic island to the World Economic Forum in Switzerland, urging European leaders to begin negotiations while appearing to rule out a military takeover.

A few hours later, Trump wrote after meeting one-on-one with Rutte that the two “have formed the framework of a future deal with respect to Greenland and, in fact, the entire Arctic Region.”

“This solution, if consummated, will be a great one for the United States of America, and all NATO Nations,” Trump wrote. “Based upon this understanding, I will not be imposing the Tariffs that were scheduled to go into effect on February 1st.”

Trumpthreatened over the weekendto place a 10% tariff on goods coming into the United States from Denmark, Finland, France, Germany, the Netherlands, Norway, Sweden and the United Kingdom if they continued to oppose his attempts to acquire Greenland. Trump wrote he would increase the tariffs to 25% in June if a deal hadn’t been brokered before then.

Trump wrote in his most recentsocial media postthat further negotiations about Greenland will be handled by Vice President JD Vance, Secretary of State Marco Rubio, Special Envoy Steve Witkoff and several other officials.

“Additional discussions are being held concerning The Golden Dome as it pertains to Greenland,” Trump wrote, referring to a possible missile defense system. “Further information will be made available as discussions progress.”

Asked by reporters if the framework includes US ownership of Greenland, Trumpdeclined to say directly.

“It’s a long-term deal. It’s the ultimate long-term deal. And I think it puts everybody in a really good position, especially as it pertains to security and minerals and everything else,” Trump said, later adding it would last “forever.”

The earlier speech: ‘I don’t have to use force’

Trump insisted during the 75-minute, wide-ranging speech he gave a few hours before his announcement that Greenland represents “a core national security interest” that “would greatly enhance the security of the entire” NATO alliance if it were fully controlled by the United States.

“I’m seeking immediate negotiations to once again discuss the acquisition of Greenland by the United States,” Trump said in the speech. “Just as we have acquired many other territories throughout our history, as many of the European nations have … there’s nothing wrong with it.”

Trump signaled in the speech that he would likely not use the US military to take over Greenland, saying, “I don’t have to use force. I don’t want to use force. I won’t use force.”

But he indicated in the speech that any European country that objected to the US making Greenland part of the country will face repercussions.

“You can say ‘yes,’ and we will be very appreciative, or you can say ‘no’ and we will remember,” Trump said.

Greenland would become the site of a missile defense system that Trump refers to as the Golden Dome, which he said could “keep our very energetic and dangerous potential enemies at bay” if the island becomes part of the United States.

Trump in earlier speech bashes NATO

Trump repeatedly criticized the other NATO countries during his speech, falsely claiming more than once the United States has never benefited from the military alliance formed following World War II.

“What we have gotten out of NATO is nothing, except to protect Europe from the Soviet Union and now Russia,” Trump said. “I mean, we’ve helped them for so many years.”

The United States is the only country in the history of the allianceto invoke Article 5, which says that an attack against one is an attack against all.

That led NATO countries to send their military members to fight alongside U.S. troops in Afghanistan following the 2001 terrorist attacks. More than 1,000 of those NATO troops died,according tothe 9/11 Memorial and Museum.

Trump-Rutte meeting before Trump’s social media post

NATO Secretary General Mark Rutte sought to reassure Trump of NATO’s security commitment to all of its member countries later in the day, when the two met one-on-one during the forum.

“Let me tell you, they will. And they did in Afghanistan, as you know,” Rutte said, according to audio of the exchange shared by the White House pool.

Rutte noted that for “every two Americans who paid the ultimate price, there was one soldier from another NATO country” or Australia.

“So you can be assured, absolutely, if ever the US will be under attack, your allies will be with you. Absolutely. There’s an absolute guarantee,” Rutte said. “I really want to tell you this, because this is important. It pains me if you think it is not.”

Trump told reporters ahead of his meeting with Rutte that he “could see” paying a price for Greenland, though he did not elaborate. He said he had “no idea” when he might speak directly with leaders of Denmark about trying to acquire Greenland. He said he believed Rutte was “frankly more important.”

Investors and single-family homes

Trump focused some of his speech in Davos on domestic issues, talking briefly aboutan executive orderhe signed this week focused on the availability of housing within the United States.

“I have signed an executive order banning large institutional investors from buying single-family homes. It’s just not fair to the public. They’re not able to buy a house,” Trump said. “And I’m calling on Congress to pass that ban into permanent law, and I think they will.”

Trump said he wanted to take steps to help Americans afford homes, but that he didn’t want those actions to reduce the value of homes people already own. He didn’t elaborate on how that would work.

“I am very protective of people that already own a house, of which we have millions and millions and millions. And because we have had such a good run, the house values have gone up tremendously, and these people have become wealthy. They weren’t wealthy. They become wealthy because of their house,” he said. “And every time you make it more and more and more affordable for somebody to buy a house cheaply, you’re actually hurting the value of those houses, obviously, because the one thing works in tandem with the other.”

Trump said if he wanted to, he could “really crush the housing market” and decrease housing prices, though he didn’t say how exactly he would go about doing that if he wanted to.

Trump said he’s ordered “government-backed institutions to purchase up to $200 billion in mortgage bonds,” and that he expects to announce a new Federal Reserve chairman “in the not-too-distant future,” who he believes will decrease interest rates. Trump has been feuding over interest rates withFederal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell, whose term as chair ends in May although Powell can remain as a governor.

Trump also called on Congress to approve legislation that would prevent credit card companies from hiking their interest rates above 10% for one year, saying that would help people save some money that they could use for buying a house.

This article is republished from States Newsroom under a Creative Commons license.