Trump's Davos Speech: 'Canada Lives Because of the US'

U.S. President Donald Trump is warning that “Canada lives because of the United States,” and calling out Prime Minister Mark Carney by name after the Canadian leader warned that the Washington-led rules-based international order is over. Speaking at the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland, on Wednesday, Mr. Trump reiterated his demand that Denmark allow the U.S. to annex Greenland – against the wishes of the semi-autonomous Arctic territory’s inhabitants – but for the first time, said he won’t use military force to seize the island. Carney stands with Greenland, criticizes Trump without naming him in blunt Davos speech Mr. Trump said one reason he wants Greenland is to build his proposed Golden Dome missile defence system that Canada is hoping to join. The President confirmed that the dome was “going to be defending Canada,” before laying into Mr. Carney. “Canada gets a lot of freebies from us, by the way. They should be grateful, also, but they’re not. I watched your Prime Minister yesterday. He wasn’t so grateful,” Mr. Trump told the packed hall. “Canada lives because of the United States. Remember that, Mark, next time you make your statements.” Trump says ‘you’ll find out’ when asked about his ambition to annex Greenland In a speech at Davos on Tuesday that quickly went viral, Mr. Carney said the world is “in the midst of a rupture, not a transition” away from the rules-based international order and toward a global system of economic “coercion” by major powers. “Middle powers must act together because, if we’re not at the table, we’re on the menu,” he said, adding that countries, such as Canada, must not accept “subordination” and instead, have to push back against economic intimidation. Since returning to power a year ago, Mr. Trump has imposed tariffs on nearly every country in the world and is threatening to impose more on European countries until Denmark agrees to hand over Greenland. The President on Wednesday said Greenland, which he sometimes erroneously called “Iceland,” should have been taken by the U.S. after the Second World War, during which the country sent troops to the territory. “After the war, we gave Greenland back to Denmark. How stupid were we to do that?” he said, later describing the island, population 57,000, as a “vast, almost entirely uninhabited, underdeveloped territory sitting undefended.” Mr. Trump’s expansionist ideation has set off alarms in the NATO alliance, of which both the U.S. and Greenland are a part, raising fears that an American invasion would end the military pact that underpins Western security. “We probably won’t get anything unless I decide to use excessive strength and force, where we would be, frankly, unstoppable. But I won’t do that,” Mr. Trump said. “That’s probably the biggest statement I made, because people thought I would use force. But I don’t have to use force. I don’t want to use force. I won’t use force.” Opinion: On our sovereignty, Canada must assume Trump will pursue the riskiest, dumbest path possible The U.S. already has a military base on Greenland and, under the terms of a 1951 treaty with Denmark, can build more military facilities and send more troops. But Mr. Trump said on Wednesday this was not enough because it would be “psychologically” difficult for the U.S. to defend the island without owning it. Denmark and other NATO countries have promised to send more forces to Greenland to beef up its defence. Since attacking Venezuela to remove its dictator and take its oil earlier this month, Mr. Trump has been promoting what he calls Donroe Doctrine of U.S. hegemony in the Americas. “This enormous, unsecured island is actually closer to North America, on the northern frontier of the western hemisphere. That’s our territory,” he said.