A MARTÍNEZ, HOST:
President Trump ruled out invading Greenland in a wide-ranging speech at the World Economic Forum in Davos today, but he has made it clear he expects Denmark and Europe to let the U.S. take over the giant island and is willing to keep in place tariffs on countries that get in his way. Were going now to NPR's Eleanor Beardsley, who's been following this from Paris. Regardless, Eleanor, is President Trump softening his tone a bit with Denmark over Greenland?
ELEANOR BEARDSLEY, BYLINE: Well, not really. I mean, as you said, he appeared to rule out the use of military force, so that was a relief, maybe, because people expected that could have been an option.
MARTÍNEZ: Yeah.
BEARDSLEY: But people, you know, the Europeans were not relieved because President Trump made it clear he's not giving up on his plans to own Greenland, a move that the Europeans say would break the NATO alliance because they don't want that. And he said he wanted immediate negotiations on it. Let's listen to President Trump.
(SOUNDBITE OF ARCHIVED RECORDING)
PRESIDENT DONALD TRUMP: It's the United States alone that can protect this giant mass of land, this giant piece of ice, develop it and improve it and make it so that it's good for Europe and safe for Europe and good for us. And that's the reason I'm seeking immediate negotiations to once again discuss the acquisition of Greenland by the United States.
MARTÍNEZ: Yeah. So, Eleanor, it doesn't sound really like a conversation between allies, more like a public spat with adversaries.
BEARDSLEY: Yeah. I mean, this, you know, the way Trump talked about Greenland is so different from the way the Europeans see it. They consider that NATO protects Greenland because it has since 1949, and Trump also said incorrectly that the U.S. gave back Greenland to Denmark after World War II, but the U.S. never owned Greenland. And then he called Denmark ungrateful. So some of his remarks came across as very jarring to Europeans. You know, today, President Macron proposed NATO exercises to be held in Greenland as a sign to China and Russia. Trump did not even mention that. In fact, when he spoke about the French president, he went through a conversation they had had about pharmaceutical drugs. He even imitated himself talking with Macron, and this went on for a long time. So this speech will leave Europeans alarmed and confused, I think, on many levels.
MARTÍNEZ: What leverage, if any, does Europe have with the U.S.?
BEARDSLEY: Well, of course, they do not want a military confrontation with the U.S. That would be impossible. It would be the end of NATO, and the U.S. has a massive military, and they can't even imagine it. So their only recourse is economic. You know, the European Parliament wants to use its 450 million consumer market for economic response. And I spoke to a European parliament member, Nathalie Loiseau, who said this whole crisis is of Trump's making.
NATHALIE LOISEAU: There was no need to have this crisis when there's a war in Ukraine, when China is threatening Taiwan and when people are dying in Iran. There are serious crises that the U.S. should deal with with Europe and not create a crisis against Europe.
BEARDSLEY: So, you know, she said that the European Parliament yesterday did not ratify as planned a U.S.-EU trade deal because that trade deal has no tariffs on American products, even though EU products going into the U.S. have an across-the-board 15% tariff. So the Europeans want to be able to use tariffs if they need to. And Loiseau told me they've prepared a package of $100 billion worth of tariffs on all kinds of American products, and they want to be able to use this if they need to. It depends on where things go. But I don't think Europeans were - they feel much better after today's speech. They still don't know where things stand, really.
MARTÍNEZ: All right. That's NPR's Eleanor Beardsley in Paris. Thank you very much. Eleanor.
BEARDSLEY: You're welcome, A. Transcript provided by NPR, Copyright NPR.
NPR transcripts are created on a rush deadline by an NPR contractor. This text may not be in its final form and may be updated or revised in the future. Accuracy and availability may vary. The authoritative record of NPR’s programming is the audio record.
