Donald Trump has said everyone is “very happy” after claiming a deal is in the works over the future of Greenland – and scrapping a threat to impose tariffs on European allies.
An emergency EU leaders summit is set to go ahead today despite the US president’s announcement in Davos on Wednesday.
Trump’s climbdown as it happened
Mr Trump said he won’t impose the 10% tariffs threatened on eight European nations, including the UK, over their opposition to his proposed takeover of the Arctic territory, following a “very productive” meeting with NATO chief Mark Rutte.
Posting on Truth Social, Mr Trump said they had formed the framework of a future deal with regard to Greenland and the “entire Arctic region”, saying the “solution” will be great for the US and all NATO countries.
The US president said “everybody’s very happy” with the “ultimate long-term deal” – and it “gives us everything we needed to get”.
He added he had spoken with other European leaders about it, but nothing had yet been signed and details have not been forthcoming.
He also declared the US “won’t use force” to take Greenland, but added his military would be “unstoppable” in that scenario.
US correspondent
The expansive ambitions for Greenland that put Trump in conflict with NATO allies, politically at least, disappeared following a meeting with the man who calls him “Daddy”.
Did NATO chief Rutte crack the code? If he turned him round in a meeting over nibbles on the sidelines at Davos, he truly is the “Trump Whisperer”.
An alternative theory would be Trump came to realise he needed an off-ramp on Greenland, that his territorial ambitions provoked a resistance amongst old allies that he hadn’t foreseen and couldn’t fight.
NATO countries had complied with Trump on increasing their contributions to the alliance. They have bent the knee to the unpredictable, erratic president but on Greenland, they made it clear they would bend no further.
He was staring down the barrel of an economic trade war and a hostility previously unseen.
The temperature has warmed, for now. For how long is the next question for the mercurial president.
How did we get here?
The US president had said on Sunday he will charge a 10% tariff “on any and all goods” sent from some countries – including the UK and European allies – to the US.
It came after his threats to take Greenland prompted a furious response from leaders on the continent and in London, even uniting Sir Keir Starmer, Kemi Badenoch, and Nigel Farage in their opposition.
Speaking ahead of Mr Trump’s U-turn, Sir Keir said at PMQs he would “not yield” in his stance over Greenland, the future of which is a matter for Denmark and Greenlanders.
He will host the Danish prime minister in Downing Street later today.
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Mr Trump’s threats appeared on the verge of rupturing NATO, which was founded by leading European nations, the US, and Canada to counter the Soviet Union.
The alliance’s other members were steadfast in saying Greenland is not for sale and cannot be wrested from Denmark, while angrily rejecting Mr Trump’s promised tariffs.
Thursday’s EU summit, which is being held in Brussels, was organised prior to Mr Trump’s climbdown and would have seen leaders discuss possible retaliation to the now cancelled tariffs.
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Mr Trump himself is still in Davos this morning, where he will attend a signing ceremony for his Board of Peace, which aims to resolve global conflicts, proposed last September when he announced his plan to end the Gaza war.
He will then meet Volodymyr Zelenskyy to discuss the war in Ukraine, as drone and missile attacks on Kyiv continue.
