DAVOS, Switzerland (AP) — US President Donald Trump insisted he wants to “get Greenland, including right, title, and ownership,” but said he would not employ force to achieve that — using his speech Wednesday at the World Economic Forum to repeatedly deride European allies and vow that NATO should not try to block US expansionism.

“What I’m asking for is a piece of ice, cold and poorly located,” Trump said, declaring of NATO: “It’s a very small ask compared to what we have given them for many, many decades.”

He urged NATO — which has held firm since the dawn of the Cold War but now is facing an unprecedented test, given Trump’s demands — to allow the US to take Greenland from Denmark. The Republican president even added an extraordinary warning, saying alliance members can say yes, “and we’ll be very appreciative. Or you can say, ‘No,’ and we will remember.”

Despite that, Trump acknowledged, “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. OK?”

“I don’t have to use force,” he said. “I don’t want to use force. I won’t use force.”

Instead, he called for opening “immediate negotiations” for the US to acquire Greenland.

“This enormous unsecured island is actually part of North America,” Trump said. “That’s our territory.”

Trump has spent weeks saying that the US will get control of Greenland no matter what it takes — but his comments at the gathering of global elites were startling in how much further he went in articulating just how he plans to do it.

He also argued that the US is booming compared with Europe and its economy.

“I love Europe, and I want to see Europe go good, but it’s not heading in the right direction,” Trump said. He added, “We want strong allies, not seriously weakened ones.” He also said of European countries, “When America booms, the whole world booms,” and, “You all follow us down, and you follow us up.”

Trump’s turning the Davos gathering upside down began before he even got there. His arrival in the Swiss Alps community of Davos was delayed after a minor electrical problem on Air........

© The Times of Israel