Updates with details throughout
US president Donald Trump said Wednesday he would be open to negotiations over his plans to annex Denmark's Greenland territory and appeared to walk back his previous threat to use military force.
"I don't want to use force," Trump said in a rambling speech at the Davos Economic forum in Switzerland. "I won't use force."
Trump defended his designs on Greenland — which he referred to as a "piece of ice" and kept mistakenly calling "Iceland" — by the previous expansion of the US in North America and by the European colonial expansion globally. "There's nothing wrong with it," he said.
Trump's threats to annex Greenland and to impose tariffs on European countries that pushed back against his plans sent US stock and financial markets lower on Tuesday, out of concern that a tariff war may erupt between the US and the EU.
Trump said that the US took over Greenland to defend it against Nazi Germany during World War 2 and that it was "stupid" to return it to Denmark.
The US demands "immediate negotiations" about acquiring Greenland, Trump said.
Trump is scheduled to meet with UK and EU leaders at Davos later on Wednesday.
Despite a seeming disavowal of the use of force, Trump made clear he intends to take over Greenland.
"You can say 'yes' and we will be very appreciative, or you can say 'no' and we will remember," he said.
Alternative arrangements such as leasing the island or part of it will not work, Trump said.
"All we're asking for is to get Greenland, including right title and ownership, because you need the ownership to defend it," Trump said. "You can't defend it on a lease. No. 1, legally, it's not defensible that way, totally. And, No. 2, psychologically, who the hell wants to defend a license agreement or a lease?"
Trump appeared to suggest that Greenland's rare earths and "critical minerals" — cited by his administration among the justifications for the annexation bid — would be hard to extract and were not relevant to his plans. "To get to this rare earth, you got to go through hundreds of feet of ice. That's not the reason we need it."
Trump addressed the Davos forum with his usual spin of what he sees as great accomplishments during his first year back at the White House, with little to no reaction from the audience.
The speech included his usual barbs aimed at European countries' energy policies, for not allowing oil exploration in the North Sea and building "windmills all over Europe". Trump praised China for not having "a single windmill", even though Chinese investment in solar and wind energy is significantly higher than in the rest of the world combined.
Trump also criticized Canada's prime minister Mark Carney, who told the Davos forum on Tuesday that Canada and other economies must move on from a reliance on the US to more diverse partnerships.
Canada "should be grateful to us", Trump said. "Canada lives because of the United States. Remember that, Mark, the next time you make your statements."
Despite justifying his planned takeover of Greenland by citing the supposed plans of Moscow and Beijing to take over the island, Trump expressed respect for Russian president Vladimir Putin and for Chinese president Xi Jinping.
The US effort to end the war in Ukraine is making strides, Trump said, adding that he plans to meet with Ukrainian president Volodymyr Zelenskiy on Thursday.
"And I'm dealing with President Putin, and he wants to make a deal," Trump said. "I can say that we're reasonably close." Trump's envoy Steve Witkoff is scheduled to meet with Putin in Moscow on Thursday, the Kremlin said.
The US military operation to remove Venezuelan leader Nicolas Maduro will turn Venezuela into a booming oil producer, Trump said, adding that "every major oil company is coming in with us".
While Chevron, Spain's Repsol and Italy's Eni said they could expand their current operations in Venezuela, ExxonMobil chief executive Darren Woods said the country's legal and business environment makes it "uninvestible".
Trump could meet Venezuelan interim president Delcy Rodriguez on the sidelines of the Davos forum, the White House said.
