„A piece of ice for world protection“

It's great to be back in beautiful Davos, Switzerland, and to address so many respected business leaders, so many friends, few enemies. And all of the distinguished guests. It's a who's who, I will say that. I've come to this year's World Economic Forum with truly phenomenal news from America. Yesterday marked the one-year anniversary of my inauguration. And today, after 12 months back in the White House, our economy is booming, growth is exploding, productivity is surging, investment is soaring, incomes are rising.

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This afternoon, I want to discuss how we have achieved this economic miracle, how we intend to raise living standards for our citizens to levels never seen before, and perhaps how you, too, and the places where you come from can do much better by following what we're doing because certain places in Europe are not even recognizable, frankly, anymore. They're not recognizable. And we can argue about it, but there's no argument. Friends come back from different places, I don't want to insult anybody, and say, I don't recognize it. And that's not in a positive way, that's in a very negative way.

I love Europe, and I want to see Europe go good. But it's not heading in the right direction. In recent decades, it became conventional wisdom in Washington and European capitals that the only way to grow a modern Western economy was through ever-increasing government spending. Unchecked mass migration and endless foreign imports. The consensus was that so-called dirty jobs and heavy industry should be sent elsewhere, that affordable energy should be replaced by the Green New Scam, and that countries could be propped up by importing new and entirely different populations from faraway lands.

This was the path that Sleepy Joe Biden-administration and many other Western governments. Very foolishly followed, turning their backs on everything that makes nations rich and powerful and strong.

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Because of my landslide election victory, the United States avoided the catastrophic energy collapse which befell every European nation that pursued the Green New Scam, perhaps the greatest hoax in history. The Green New Scam, windmills all over the place, destroy your land. Destroy your land! Every time that goes around, you lose 1,000 Dollars. You're supposed to make money with energy, not lose money. Here in Europe, we've seen the fate that the radical left tried to impose on America. They tried very hard. Germany now generates 22 Prozent less electricity than it did in 2017. And it's not the current chancellor's fault. He's solving the problem. He's going to do a great job. But what they did before he got there, I guess that's why he got there. And electricity prices are 64 per cent higher. The United Kingdom produces just one-third of the total energy from all sources that it did in 1999. Think of that one- third. And they're sitting on top of the North Sea, one of the greatest reserves anywhere in the world, but they don't use it.

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The consequences of such destructive policies have been stark, including lower economic growth, lower standards of living, lower birth rates, more socially disruptive migration, more vulnerability to hostile foreign adversaries, and much, much smaller militaries. The United States cares greatly about the people of Europe. We really do. I mean, look, I am derived from Europe, Scotland and Germany. 100 per cent Scotland, my mother, 100 per cent German, my father. And we believe deeply in the bonds we share with Europe as a civilization. I want to see it do great. That's why issues like energy, trade, immigration, and economic growth must be central concerns to anyone who wants to see a strong and united West.

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Ultimately, these are matters of national security, and perhaps no current issue makes the situation more clear than what's currently going on with Greenland. Would you like me to say a few words of Greenland? I was going to leave it out of the speech, but I thought I think I would have been reviewed very negatively. I have tremendous respect for both the people of Greenland and the people of Denmark. Tremendous respect. But every Nato ally has an obligation to be able to defend their own territory. And the fact is, no nation or group of nations is in any position to be able to secure Greenland other than the United States. We're a great power, much greater than people even understand.

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We saw this in World War II, when Denmark fell to Germany after just six hours of fighting and was totally unable to defend either itself or Greenland. So the United States was then compelled. We did it. We felt an obligation to do it, to send our own forces to hold the Greenland territory and hold it. Did at great cost and expense. We literally set up bases on Greenland for Denmark. We fought for Denmark, we weren't fighting for anyone else, we were fighting to save it for Denmark — big, beautiful piece of ice. It's hard to call it land, it's a big piece of us. But we saved Greenland and successfully prevented our enemies from gaining a foothold. In our hemisphere. So we did it for ourselves also.

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Greenland is a vast, almost entirely uninhabited and undeveloped territory. It's sitting undefended in a key strategic location between the United States, Russia, and China. That's exactly where it is, right smack in the middle. Wasn't important, nearly, when we gave it back. You know, when we gave it back. Wasn't the same as it is now. It's not important for any other reason, you know, that everyone talks about the minerals. There's so many places. There's no rare earths. No such thing as rare earths, there's rare processing. But there's so much rare earths and just to get to this rare earths you got to go through hundreds of feet of ice. That's not the reason we need it. We need it for strategic national security and international security. This enormous, unsecured island is actually part of North America, on the northern frontier of the Western Hemisphere. That's our territory. It is therefore a core national security interest of the United States of America.

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That's why American presidents have sought to purchase Greenland for nearly two centuries. You know, for two centuries, they've been trying to do it. They should have kept it after World War II, but they had a different president. That's all right. People think differently. Much more necessary now than it was at that time, however. In 2019, Denmark said that they would spend over $200 million to strengthen Greenland's defenses. But, as you know, they spent less than one per cent of that amount. One per cent is no sign of Denmark there.

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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, just as we have acquired many other territories throughout our history, as many of the European nations have.

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But this would not be a threat to Nato. This would greatly enhance the security of the entire alliance, the Nato alliance.

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All the United States is asking for is a place called Greenland, where we already had it. As a trustee, but respectfully returned it back to Denmark not long ago after we defeated the Germans, the Japanese, the Italians, and others in World War II. We gave it back them. We were a powerful force then, but we are a much more powerful force now.

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And all we're asking for is to get Greenland, including right, title, and ownership, because you need the ownership to defend it. You can't defend it on a lease. Number one, legally, it's not defensible that way. Totally. And, number two, psychologically, who the hell wants to defend a license agreement, or a lease, which is a large piece of ice in the middle of the ocean where, if there is a war, much of the action will take place on that piece of the ice? Think of it. Those missiles would be flying right over the center of that piece of ice. All we want from Denmark is a better future for all of us. For national and international security, and to keep our very energetic and dangerous potential enemies at bay.

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The problem with Nato is that we'll be there for them 100 per cent. But I'm not sure that they'd be there for us if we gave them the call. Gentlemen, we are being attacked. We're under attack by such and such a nation. I know them all very well. I'm not sure that they would be there. I know we'd be there for them. I don't know that they'd be there for us.

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So other presidents have spent, whether foolishly or not, trillions and trillions of dollars on Nato and gotten absolutely nothing in return. We've never asked for anything. It's always a one-way street.

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But now what I'm asking for is a piece of ice, cold and poorly located, that can play a vital role in world peace and world protection. It's a very small ask. Compared to what we have given them for many, many decades. But the problem with Nato is that we'll be there for them 100 per cent. But I'm not sure that they'd be there for us if we gave them the call. Gentlemen, we are being attacked. We're under attack by such and such a nation. I know them all very well. I'm sure that that they would be there. I know we'd be there for them. I don't know that they'd be there for us.

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So we want a piece of ice for world protection, and they won't give it. We've never asked for anything else, and we could have kept that piece of land, and we didn't. So they have a choice. You can say yes, and will be very appreciative. Or you can say no, and you will remember.

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The explosion of prosperity and conclusion and progress that built the West did not come from our tax codes. It ultimately came from our very special culture. This is the precious inheritance that America and Europe have in common. We share it. We share, but we have to keep it strong. We have to become stronger, more successful, and more prosperous than ever. We have to defend that culture and rediscover the spirit that lifted the West from the depths of the Dark Ages to the pinnacle of human achievement.

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And the United States is back, bigger, stronger, better than ever before. I'll see you around. Thank you all very much. Thank you very much. Thank you.