“I think something’s going to happen that’s going to be very good for everybody”
Donald Trump has questioned whether Nato would come to the “rescue” of the US but played down the fallout from a rift with Europe over his threats to take control of Greenland.
The US president also said “you’ll find out” when asked how far he was willing to go to acquire the island, which is a semi-autonomous territory in the Kingdom of Denmark and home to around 58,000 people, the Press Association reports.
During a wide-ranging White House press conference marking the first year of his second term, Mr Trump faced questions over whether he was prepared to pay the price of Nato breaking up as a consequence of his determination over Greenland – which at the weekend saw huge protests opposing Mr Trump’s bid to acquire it for the US.
“I think something’s going to happen that’s going to be very good for everybody,” he said.
“I think that we will work something out… Nato is going to be very happy and where we’re going to be very happy.
“But we need it for security purposes, we need it for national security and even world security. It is very important.”
But Mr Trump, who has long called for Nato members to increase their contributions to the military alliance, also expressed uncertainty about the alliance coming to America’s defence.
“The big fear I have with Nato is we spend tremendous amounts of money with Nato, and I know we’ll come to their rescue but I just really do question whether or not they’ll come to ours,” the US president said.
Article 5 of the Nato treaty, which lays out the bloc’s mutual defence guarantees, has been invoked only once in its history, in the aftermath of the September 11 2001 attacks.
In a social media spree earlier on Tuesday, the US president launched an attack on the UK decision to cede sovereignty of the Chagos Islands, revealed messages from European leaders including Emmanuel Macron and posted images showing Greenland as US territory.
Speaking later at a press conference, Mr Trump insisted he gets “along very well” with Prime Minister Sir Keir Starmer and the French president but revealed they had not spoken since his Truth Social posts.
“I mean, they always treat me well. They get a little bit rough when, you know, when I’m not around, but when I’m around they treat me very nicely,” he said.
“I like both of them. They’re both liberal.
“They’ve got to straighten out their countries though: you look at London, it’s having a lot of problems and if you look at Paris, got a lot of problems.”
He cited immigration and energy as the two “problems” he meant, criticising the use of wind turbines which he calls “windmills”.
Mr Trump has threatened to hit Britain and other European allies with 10% tariffs from February 1 unless they agree to his purchase of Greenland and he has refused to rule out using military force to seize the island.
The US president has warned that Russia and China pose a national security risk from the Arctic and has claimed Denmark is incapable of protecting Greenland.
Speaking to reporters on Tuesday, he pointed to his attendance at the World Economic Forum (WEF) in Davos, Switzerland, and said “we have a lot of meetings scheduled on Greenland” and “I think things are going to work out pretty well”.
Markets fell in response to Mr Trump’s tariff threats, with the FTSE 100 index in London declining and similar drops in other European exchanges and the US.
Sir Keir led a Cabinet discussion about the crisis while Bank of England governor Andrew Bailey warned the tensions would have consequences for global financial stability.
“Market reactions have actually been more muted than we would have feared and expected,” Mr Bailey told MPs.
In Downing Street, the Prime Minister said there was a clear feeling among Nato members that more needs to be done to secure the Arctic.
No 10 said that at the Cabinet meeting he “reiterated that Greenland’s future was a matter for Greenlanders and the Kingdom of Denmark, and that the prospect of tariffs imposed against allies by the US was wrong”.
In Davos, Rachel Reeves called for cool heads as Europe and the US teetered on the brink of a trade war, with European Commission chief Ursula von der Leyen warning Brussels could hit back at America in an “unflinching” way.
But the Chancellor also urged the White House to think about “how your allies can also help you achieve your objectives, which I think are in your national interest, as well as helping all of the western world to thrive.”
The Prime Minister said he continued to engage with European leaders over the proposed US tariffs “which were in no-one’s interests”.
He spoke with European Council president Antonio Costa in a call on Tuesday evening during which he said the UK was prepared to “play its part to protect Arctic security alongside Nato,” according to a No 10 readout.
