Trump blasts NATO and claims World War III would have erupted without him as he rules out using force to take Greenland: Live updates

By JAMIE BULLEN, LIVE COVERAGE EDITOR and IMOGEN GARFINKEL – SENIOR FOREIGN NEWS REPORTER and NIKKI SCHWAB, CHIEF CAMPAIGN CORRESPONDENT and KATRINA SCHOLLENBERGER, US HEAD OF LIVE NEWS and RACHEL BOWMAN, US SENIOR NEWS REPORTER

Updated: 14:03 EST, 21 January 2026

Donald Trump slammed NATO several times speaking at the World Economic Forum in Davos on Wednesday, claiming World War III would have happened without US intervention in the Ukraine-Russia conflict.

Trump accused NATO of treating the United States ‘very unfairly,’ demanding the alliance step up its financial contributions to defense after years of relying on US intervention in the war. 

Trump went on to claim the US ‘won’ the Second World War while highlighting the importance of Greenland for American security.

He said: ‘After the war we gave Greenland back. How stupid were we to do that? But we did it. How ungrateful are they now? 

‘So now our country and the world face greater risks than it ever did before because of weapons of warfare that I can’t even talk about.’

He confirmed the US will not use military force to acquire Greenland amid tensions between the US and Europe.

‘We probably won’t get anything unless I decide to use excessive strength and force, where we would be, frankly, unstoppable,’ he said.

Follow the latest updates of Donald Trump’s time in Davos 

Trump says WWIII may have happened if he was not elected president

Speaking at the World Economic Forum on Wednesday, Donald Trump claimed the world was on the brink of World War III over the Ukraine–Russia conflict and insisted catastrophe was only avoided because the United States ‘stepped in.’

He branded the war a ‘very, very bad situation,’ saying ‘many young people have been killed,’ and claimed he had once believed the conflict would be resolved within weeks.

‘I thought that was going to be one of my easier ones – not the easiest,’ Trump said. ‘Some I settled in a matter of hours. Because I’m good at that stuff.’

The president also renewed his attacks on NATO, arguing the alliance needed to ‘step up’ after relying on U.S. support for ‘years and years.’

He claimed NATO had treated the United States ‘very unfairly.’

Trump tells Danish foreign minister to reject Greenland deal ‘to my face’

When asked about the Danish foreign minister’s remarks that they will not negotiate trading Greenland, Trump called him to tell the president directly.

‘I don’t like getting it secondhand,’ Trump said. ‘If he wants to tell me, he’ll tell me that to my face.’

Trump says Switzerland PM ‘rubbed him the wrong way’

Donald Trump recounted a conversation he had with a female Swiss leader over tariffs that ‘rubbed him the wrong way’ during his speech in Davos, Switzerland.

‘I guess Prime Minister, I don’t think president, I think prime minister, called a woman, and she was very repetitive. She said, “No, no, no. You cannot do that.”

‘Kept saying the same thing over and over. “We are a small country.” I said, but you’re a big country in terms of… and she just rubbed me the wrong way, I’ll be honest with you.’

Trump was likely referring to Karin Keller-Sutter, who served as President of the Swiss Confederation in 2025. Switzerland has a rotating presidency, which is chosen annually by parliament.

NATO chief assures Trump alliance supports US

NATO Secretary General Mark Rutte confronted Donald Trump about his remarks questioning if the alliance would support the US in a time of need.

‘There’s one thing I heard you say yesterday – you were not absolutely sure that the Europeans would come to the rescue of the US, if you were attacked,’ Rutte told the president.

‘Let me tell you, they will.’

He added, ‘You can be assured, absolutely, if ever the US was under attack, your allies will be with you. There is absolute guarantee.

‘It pains me if you think it is not, and under your leadership, this alliance is stronger than ever.’

Trump thanked him for the ‘great compliment.’

British Prime Minister vows UK will ‘not yield’ over Greenland

Prime Minister Keir Starmer launched his most direct attack on Donald Trump today accusing him of turning against the Chagos deal as part of his campaign to get Greenland.

At a tense PMQs, Sir Keir said the US President had the ‘express’ intention of forcing the UK to ‘yield’ to his grab for Danish territory.

‘He wants me to yield on my position and I’m not going to do so,’ Sir Keir said.

Trump says he ‘could see’ a reasonable price for Greenland

Before heading into a meeting with NATO chief Mark Rutte, Donald Trump was asked by a reporter if there could be a ‘reasonable’ price to acquire Greenland.

‘I could see that,’ Trump said, adding, ‘there’s a bigger price.’

‘That’s the price of safety and security and national security and international security,’ he said.

‘And, as you know, we’re doing the Golden Dome, it’s going to be very expensive. And it’s better if we have Greenland than it is without, it’s going to be safer, it’s going to be stronger, it’s going to be better for Europe, and it’s going to be better for us.’

Greenland will be ‘safer and stronger’ with US says Trump

Revisiting his plan to annex Greenland, Trump claimed that it’s ‘better if we have Greenland with us’ at Davos.

‘It’s going to be safer. It’s going to be stronger. It’s going to be better for Europe, and it’s going to be better for us,’ he continued.

He said other nations would need to dig ’25 feet deep’ to get the most out of any natural resource Greenland could offer.

‘It’s not something that a lot of people are going to do or want to do.

‘No, this is security we’re talking about. And I can say one thing about the more you want security, the more security for all of us

Trump says he can spot criminals ‘by looking at them’

At the CEO reception at Davos, Trump said he could tell which migrants that had illegally crossed US borders were criminals ‘just by looking at them.’

‘I don’t discriminate,’ he said. ‘But you can look at some people and say they’re criminals.’

His comments came after he criticized Biden’s former border policies in his speech at the World Economic Forum.

Witkoff and Kushner to meet with Putin

US special envoy Steve Witkoff told CNBC he Donald Trump’s son-in-law Jared Kushner are traveling to Russia tomorrow to discuss ‘land deals’ over Ukraine.

A Kremlin spokesperson confirmed the meeting, according to Russian news agency TASS.

Trump does impression of Toyota CEO Koji Sato

While discussing incoming tariff money at a business leaders reception at the World Economic Forum, Trump announced that Toyota had spent at least $10million in tariff funds.

‘We have companies, great companies coming in…Toyota,’ he began.

‘So what’s your name?’ Trump said as he recollected meeting Toyota CEO Koji Sato.

‘Do you own the car company?’ he said, then switching his voice to mimic Sato, replying ‘Yes, 92%.’

He said: ‘You didn’t have to be that specific. But I said, you’re rich.’

Imitating Sato once more, he continued: ‘Yes, yes, I rich.’

Trump calls Gavin Newsom ‘good guy’

Donald Trump called California Governor Gavin Newsom a ‘good guy’ while discussing his administration’s impact on crime rates in the US.

‘We’re going to help the people in California. We want to have no crime. I know Gavin [Newsom] was here. I used to get along so great with Gavin when I was president. Gavin’s a good guy,’ Trump said.

‘We did help them a lot in Los Angeles a lot early in my term when they had some problems, but we would love to do it.

‘I will say this, if I were a Democrat governor or whatever, I would call up Trump. I say, “Come on in. Make us look good.”‘

Karoline Leavitt tries to deny that Trump mixed up Iceland and Greenland

White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt is trying to deny that President Donald Trump mistook Iceland for Greenland.

She took a shot at NewsNation White House correspondent Libbey Dean for saying that the president called Greenland ‘Iceland’ ‘around three times.’

‘No he didn’t, Libby. His written remarks referred to Greenland as a “piece of ice” because that’s what it is,’ Leavitt shot back. ‘You’re the only one mixing anything up here.’

Leavitt included a picture of icy Greenland in her post.

While Trump did refer to Greenland as a ‘piece of ice,’ he also said the following:

They’re not there for us on Iceland. I can tell you. Our stock market took the first dip yesterday because of Iceland. So Iceland’s already cost us a lot of money.

On Tuesday, the stock market took a tumble due to Trump’s threats to acquire Greenland.

It bumped back up Wednesday after Trump said that military intervention was off the table.

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Trump blasts NATO and claims World War III would have erupted without him as he rules out using force to take Greenland: Live updates