\n<\/p>\n
On to Nato, Trump says: \u201cWe give so much, and we get so little in return.\u201d<\/strong><\/p>\n Trump says the US only gets \u201cdeath, disruption, and massive amounts of cash [given] to people who don\u2019t appreciate what we do\u201d \u2013 and he\u2019s taking about both Nato and Europe generally.<\/p>\n Trump then points out Nato chief Mark Rutte in the audience \u2013 who this morning was complimentary about Trump\u2019s pressure to raise military spending among Nato members.<\/p>\n Trump appears to state that he won\u2019t use force to obtain Greenland.<\/p>\n We won\u2019t get anything unless I use excessive strength and force, when we would be unstoppable.<\/p>\n I won\u2019t use force.<\/p>\n Trump<\/strong> then claims that the US has got \u201cnothing out of Nato\u201d, apart from protecting Europe from Russia.<\/p>\n [This is, frankly, offensive. Nato\u2019s collective defence pledge, Article 5, has only been activated once, after 9\/11].<\/p>\n And Trump then repeats his desire to acquire Greenland.<\/p>\n Share<\/p>\n Updated at\u00a011.22 EST<\/p>\n <\/span><\/span><\/p>\n Key events<\/p>\n <\/span>Show key events only<\/p>\n Please turn on JavaScript to use this feature<\/span><\/p>\n <\/span><\/p>\n Trump is now holding top-level meetings here at the World Economic Forum.<\/strong><\/p>\n The US president has met with Polish President Karol Nawrocki following his address to the World Economic Forum in Davos, the White House says.<\/p>\n There\u2019s quite a scrum of security people, and WEF delegates, at the part of the congress centre set aside for bilateral meetings.<\/p>\n The U.S. president also had meetings scheduled with the leaders of Switzerland, Egypt and NATO Secretary-General Mark Rutte. He was due to meet Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy on Thursday, Reuters says<\/em>.<\/p>\n Share<\/p>\n Denmark\u2019s foreign minister has said Donald Trump\u2019s statement that he would not use force to take Greenland was positive, even though the US president hasn\u2019t dropped his ambitions to acquire the island<\/p>\n Lars<\/strong> Lokke<\/strong> Rasmussen<\/strong> told reporters (Bloomberg reports):<\/p>\n \u201cWhat is clear after this speech is that the president\u2019s ambition [to own Greenland] remains intact.<\/p>\n \u201cIt is, in isolation, positive that it is being said that military force will not be used, but that does not make the problem go away. The challenge is still there.\u201d<\/p>\n Share<\/p>\n Tonight, join Jonathan Freedland, Tania Branigan, Anand Menon and Nick Lowles as they reflect on the first year of Donald Trump\u2019s second presidency \u2013 and to ask if Britain could be set on the same path.<\/p>\n Book tickets here or at guardian.live<\/p>\n Share<\/p>\n Donald Trump\u2019s pledge today not to use force to take control of Greenland is going down well in the financial markets.<\/strong><\/p>\n The Dow Jones industrial average share index is up almost 1% so far today at 48,944 points, clawing back most of Tuesday\u2019s losses when geopolitical fears rocked the markets.<\/p>\n The broader S&P 500 index is up just over 1%.<\/p>\n Kathleen Brooks, <\/strong>research director at brokerage XTB, <\/strong>reports that the \u2018sell America trade\u2019 has become the \u2018buy America trade\u2019.<\/p>\n Here\u2019s why:<\/p>\n The President\u2019s speech at Davos was the most anticipated event of the week. It was delivered in his traditional style: very long, full of anecdotes, and wide ranging in terms of scope.<\/p>\n However, there were two key takeaways for markets. Firstly, Trump will not take Greenland by force and 2, Trump wants the economy to run hot to send US stocks flying north.<\/p>\n Share<\/p>\n Nigel Farage has suggested the world would be a \u201cbetter, more secure place\u201d if America took over Greenland, <\/strong>PA Media report<\/strong><\/em>.<\/strong><\/p>\n The Reform leader is here in Davos, and discussed Trump\u2019s speech at an event at USA House (the American delegation\u2019s base here, in a Davos church).<\/p>\n But Farage<\/strong> also acknowledged that the move would not be consistent with national sovereignty, or his belief in national self-determination.<\/p>\n He says:<\/p>\n \u201cI have no doubt that the world would be a better, more secure place if a strong America was in Greenland, because of the geopolitics of the High North, because of the retreating ice caps and because of the continued expansionism of Russian icebreakers, of Chinese investment.<\/p>\n \u201cSo yes, would America owning Greenland be better for the world in terms of safety and stronger for Nato? It would.<\/p>\n \u201cHowever, if you believe in Brexit, and if you believe in celebrating America\u2019s 250th birthday, if you believe in the nation states and not globalist structures, you believe in sovereignty.<\/p>\n \u201cAnd if you believe in sovereignty, you believe in the principle of national self-determination.\u201d<\/p>\n Share<\/p>\n WEF attendees are mulling over Trump\u2019s speech.<\/strong><\/p>\n My colleague Heather Stewart has just been chatting to the economic historian Adam<\/strong> Tooze<\/strong>, who\u2019s been watching Trump\u2019s speech here in Davos.<\/p>\n He compared the attitude of US Trump supporters he\u2019s met here to that of a \u201cserial abuser,\u201d saying one top US executive had told him, \u201cthis is how it\u2019s going to be: we\u2019re going to beat up on you [Europe]; it\u2019s going to hurt – then we\u2019re going to beat up on you some more. You\u2019re going to squeal. And then we\u2019re going to do some kind of a deal on our terms.\u201d<\/p>\n He added,<\/p>\n \u201cThey\u2019re just simply saying, \u2018you have to accept this is how we are now. This is what it\u2019s like\u2019.\u201d<\/p>\n Asked about how other governments should respond, Tooze<\/strong> said:<\/p>\n \u201cI think we ought to be thinking quite hard about whatever the international equivalent of getting up and leaving is. We need to strengthen ourselves, and have coalitions of friendly people.\u201d<\/p>\n Share<\/p>\n From one populist to another\u2026..<\/p>\n Argentina\u2019s president Javier<\/strong> Milei<\/strong> is now giving a special address, and tells WEF that \u201cMachiavelli is dead\u201d.<\/p>\n He\u2019s banging the drum for liberalism, and outlining how we need to return to \u201cJudeo-Christian values\u201d to save the west, with some philosophical musings on the rights of man.<\/p>\n Quotes to follow\u2026<\/em><\/p>\n Share<\/p>\n John Collingridge<\/span><\/p>\n Gavin Newsom, the governor of California, described Trump\u2019s speech as the \u201cone of the most insignificant hours I\u2019ve spent in years – and I think the world spent\u201d.<\/strong><\/p>\n My colleague John<\/strong> Collingridge<\/strong> reports that Newsom<\/strong> gave Trump\u2019s special address a withering review here in Davos, saying:<\/p>\n \u201cIt was significant in its insignificance. He said what we all knew- that he\u2019s not going to invade Greenland.\u201d<\/p>\n Newsom<\/strong>, one of the leading contenders among Democratic candidates for president in 2028, said it was \u201cboring, and at times boorish\u201d.<\/p>\n \u201cFire and fury amounting to quite literally absolutely nothing\u201d.<\/p>\n Newsom<\/strong> said Europe \u201cshould be worried if they don\u2019t respond firmly, with conviction to stand tall and what more evidence do you need of that than today?\u201d<\/p>\n He said the response of European leaders including France\u2019s Emmanuel<\/strong> Macron<\/strong> appeared to have tempered Trump.<\/p>\n \u201cWhat happened yesterday he responded to, and multiple things happened yesterday – it was not just Macron and the EU president\u2019s speech, and Carney\u2019s speech, but the markets reacted.\u201d<\/p>\n Share<\/p>\n Updated at\u00a011.12 EST<\/p>\n Dharna Noor<\/span><\/p>\n In his Wednesday remarks at Davos, Trump once again showcased his bitter dislike of wind energy.<\/strong><\/p>\n He said:<\/p>\n \u201cOne thing I\u2019ve noticed is that the more windmills a country has, the more money that country loses, and the worse that country is doing.\u201d<\/p>\n The US president claimed that \u201cChina makes almost all of the windmills, and yet I haven\u2019t been able to find any wind farms in China.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cChina\u2019s very smart: They make them, they sell them for a fortune,\u201d he said. \u201cThey sell them to the stupid people that buy them, but they don\u2019t use them themselves.\u201d<\/p>\n The \u201ccouple of big wind farms\u201d that China does have are not in use, Trump claimed.<\/p>\n \u201cThey just put them up to show people what they could look like, but they don\u2019t spin, they don\u2019t do anything,\u201d he said, adding that for energy, \u201cmostly China goes with the coal, they go with oil and gas, they\u2019re starting to look at nuclear a little bit, and they\u2019re doing just fine.\u201d<\/p>\n He went on to say China is \u201cshocked that people continue to buy those damn things.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cThey killed the birds, they ruined your landscapes,\u201d he said. \u201cOther than that, I think they\u2019re fabulous, by the way. Stupid people buy them.\u201d<\/p>\n China has more wind capacity than any other country in the world and has twice as much capacity under construction than the rest of the world combined.<\/p>\n China\u2019s wind generation in 2024 equaled 40 percent of global wind generation, according to a 2025 report from think tank Ember Energy. It is also building 180 gigawatts of large solar projects and 159 gigawatts of large wind projects, which together amount to nearly two-thirds of the capacity coming online worldwide, an analysis from Global Energy Monitor says.<\/p>\n Share<\/p>\n Updated at\u00a011.02 EST<\/p>\n European Green Party co-chair Vula Tsetsi<\/strong> is urging European leaders to \u201cstand united against Trump\u2019s bullying\u201d over Greenland.<\/p>\n Following the US president\u2019s demands today to be allowed to acquire Greenland, Tsetsi<\/strong> says:<\/p>\n Trump\u2019s insistence that he will \u2018acquire\u2019 Greenland reveal a dangerous nationalistic trajectory, pushing the United States towards a petro-state model, marked by domestic repression and an openly imperial agenda.\u2019<\/p>\n \u2018We call on all pro-European and democratic forces to act together to defend our values, safeguard Europe\u2019s autonomy, and build a green, self-determined Europe that can uphold international law, defend democracy, and protect people\u2019s rights, including those of the people of Greenland.\u2019<\/p>\n Share<\/p>\n Green energy campaigners are quick to criticise Trump\u2019s comments on green energy, and his call for more drilling in the North Sea today.<\/p>\n Greenpeace UK<\/strong> climate campaigner Lily-Rose Ellis <\/strong>says the US president is wrong to call for more fossil fuel drilling there:<\/p>\n \u201cTrump\u2019s knowledge of North Sea oil and gas amounts to a tottering pile of lies. More oil and gas from UK fields won\u2019t take a penny off our energy bills, taxes on drilling firms are a lot lower than he claims, and gas reserves are running dry.<\/p>\n Our best hope of lowering bills and boosting energy security is to fix our draughty homes and double down on homegrown renewables. The UK government can safely ignore advice from a climate denier bankrolled by the fossil fuel industry and keep working to protect the country from the volatility of oil and gas.\u201d<\/p>\n Tessa Khan<\/strong>, executive director at Uplift<\/strong>, says Trump\u2019s views on UK energy policy are ill-informed, to say the least.<\/p>\n Last year he claimed the UK has 100 years of reserves left, now its 500 years. It\u2019s nonsense.<\/p>\n \u201cAfter more than fifty years, the UK has burned most of its gas and what\u2019s left of the oil is increasingly difficult and expensive to extract. Regardless of any new drilling, the UK will be dependent on gas imports for nearly two thirds of its gas in just five years time and almost 100 per cent by 2050.<\/p>\n \u201cOf course Donald Trump wants us to remain dependent on fossil fuels – and on US gas specifically – but that\u2019s not in the UK\u2019s national interest. Renewable energy, which we\u2019re lucky to have in abundance, is the only way to reduce our exposure to energy price shocks and mean we are not at the mercy of bad actors like Putin or the whims of Trump.<\/p>\n \u201cTrump is cheerleader-in-chief for an industry that has made obscene profits while millions of people here have struggled with unaffordable energy bills, and which is fuelling the rapid changes we\u2019re seeing to our climate.<\/p>\n \u201cLets not take advice from a man who thinks climate change is a con job, who is pursuing a policy of US \u2018energy dominance\u2019 and who has openly used force to seize the world\u2019s oil resources.\u201d<\/p>\n Share<\/p>\n Ian Bremmer<\/strong>, president of the Eurasia<\/strong> Group, <\/strong>says there\u2019s nothing new in Donald Trump\u2019s speech to Davos apart from the pledge not to use force against Greenland- which he says was \u201cnever on the table\u201d anyway.<\/p>\n So while it will make headlines, Mark Carney\u2019s speech yesterday (about the rupture in the world order) is the one that matters.<\/p>\n nothing new from trump davos speech other than saying he wouldn\u2019t use force against greenland\u2026which was never on the table. <\/p>\n will make headlines. but carney\u2019s speech is the one that mattered.<\/p>\nDenmark’s foreign minister: The problem hasn’t gone away<\/h2>\n
Guardian newsroom: Year One of Trumpism: Is Britain Emulating the US?<\/h2>\n
Markets higher as investors welcome ‘no force’ pledge on Greenland<\/h2>\n
Farage: World would be safer if US owned Greenland<\/h2>\n
Adam Tooze: Trump supporters here have attitude of ‘serial abuser’<\/h2>\n
Newsom: Trump speech was ‘boring’ and ‘boorish’<\/h2>\n
Fact check: \u2018There are no real wind farms in China\u201d<\/h2>\n