President Donald Trump said at the World Economic Forum Wednesday that the U.S. wants to acquire Greenland to build a Golden Dome missile defense system.
Trump has continued to aggressively push the Kingdom of Denmark to hand over control of Greenland to the U.S. and plans to impose tariffs on European countries while they continue to push back. The president said during the event in Davos, Switzerland, that the U.S. intends to build the Golden Dome for international and national security purposes.
“All we want from Denmark for national and international security and to keep our very energetic and dangerous potential enemies at bay is this land on which we’re going to build the greatest Golden Dome ever built. We’re building a Golden Dome that’s going to just by its very nature going to be defending Canada. Canada gets a lot of freebies from us, by the way,” Trump said.Â
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Trump announced on Saturday that the U.S. will impose a 10% tariff on Denmark, France, Norway, Sweden, Finland, Germany, the United Kingdom and the Netherlands beginning on Feb. 1. The rate will rise to 25% on June 1 and remain in place until a deal is reached for what he called the “Complete and Total purchase of Greenland.”
Trump said that the Golden Dome defense system is essential for preventing Russia or China from acquiring the land, given that it is strategically located between the U.S. and Russia and is rich in critical minerals. He has argued that Denmark lacks the capability to defend Greenland from such national security threats.
The Golden Dome is a missile defense shield that intends to use next-generation technology to target ballistic, hypersonic and cruise missiles capable of striking the homeland with either conventional or nuclear warheads, according to the Department of Defense. During his speech, Trump also appeared to take military action off the table to acquire Greenland, saying that he does not want to “use force.”
European leaders, including French President Emmanuel Macron and Swedish Prime Minister Ulf Kristersson, have raged against the upcoming tariffs, stating that their nations will not be “intimidated.”
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