"I'm speaking before many friends and also before some enemies..." This is how Donald Trump began his speech at the World Economic Forum in Davos , Switzerland. A not-so-veiled dig at the representatives of European countries at odds with Washington over its declared ambitions to annex Greenland.
Speaking specifically about Greenland , Trump stated in his speech: " I have great respect for Denmark, but we in the United States can defend Greenland (which the president sometimes confused with Iceland, ed.) better than anyone else . You saw what we did in six hours in Venezuela. Something exceptional. We could do the same to defend Greenland. Denmark is ungrateful. It's a small piece that controls a large piece of ice. We were stupid to give it to them after the war. We should have kept it." Today, however, "we are facing greater risks than we did a long time ago. Greenland is a huge area and is in a strategic location" between the US, Russia, and China . "A security effort is needed," and the US "must protect this gigantic piece of ice" to "protect the world."
"I don't want to use force and I won't, " the US leader continued, "but Greenland was ours, then we won the war and gave it up. But those were different times. Today it must be defended, and only we can do that." For this reason, Trump called for "immediate negotiations" for the acquisition of the Arctic island.
The US president also spoke about the economic situation in the US: "We are in the midst of great economic growth . A year ago, with the radical left, we were a dead country; today we are the strongest country with a booming economy" and "the economic engine of the planet."
Then the tariffs : "We have made historic trade agreements with many partners, including European countries and Japan. When the United States leads, others follow."
And Venezuela : "All the major oil companies are coming with us to Venezuela. We appreciate Venezuela's cooperation; they're doing very well."
Regarding tensions with Europe, Trump stated, "I love Europe, but it's not going in the right direction," and "some places in Europe are frankly unrecognizable," due to "uncontrolled immigration" and "the focus on renewable energy." Regarding the latter, the US president said, "We 've shut down wind energy programs and won't approve new ones. We don't throw money at wind farms ; we tear them down and don't build new ones." According to Trump , "the more countries invest in wind turbines, the more money they lose."
And then Ukraine : "It's up to NATO and the EU to deal with it, not just the US," which is why " I want strong European allies." "The Europeans," Trump explained, "must work on Ukraine. We're very far away, we have this wonderful, enormous ocean separating us. We have nothing to do with them, and NATO still demands 2% of GDP for defense, but many countries pay nothing at all." "I really want to end that war, perhaps the worst since World War II," Trump stated. "Putin wants to reach an agreement, Zelensky wants one too . And the US wants to help Europe, and therefore NATO."
(Unioneonline/lf)
