This is it for today from the Europe blog. We’ll bring you all the latest news from Davos and beyond when our European colleagues return in the morning.
‘You’ll find out’: Trump refuses to say how far he would go to seize Greenland
Donald Trump ratcheted up the uncertainty over how far he would be willing to go to acquire Greenland and warned the Nato alliance that it was only as strong as the United States allowed it to be.
“You’ll find out,” Trump said in a terse reply at a White House press briefing before moving to the next question.
Trump also declined to offer any reassurances that Nato leaders were craving about his commitment to the stability of the transatlantic alliance after his threats to take over Greenland by force.
The US president repeated multiple times that he had done more for Nato than anyone else, as part of suggestions that he should have free rein to shape its future and what territories the US controlled.
When asked whether the breakup of Nato was a price he would pay to acquire Greenland, a territory of Denmark, Trump said he thought whatever happened would be beneficial to the alliance.
I’ve made it so much better, so much stronger. It’s so good now. Nato is so much stronger. Whether you like it or not, it’s only as good as we are. If Nato doesn’t have us, Nato is not very strong.
Trump’s freewheeling remarks came hours before he was scheduled to leave Washington DC to travel to the World Economic Summit in Davos, Switzerland, where he was set to meet with world leaders.
Read Hugo’s full report here:
Updated
