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Greenland, NATO and war: Fact-checking Trump’s Davos speech

Addressing the World Economic Forum, US President Donald Trump attacked Europe’s energy policies and alleged the US “returned” Greenland to Denmark following World War Two. The Cube looks at where facts back his claims.

READ MORE : http://www.euronews.com/2026/01/21/greenland-nato-and-war-fact-checking-trumps-davos-speech

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00:00Fact-checking Donald Trump's Davos speech.
00:06In a much-anticipated speech, US President Donald Trump made a number of sweeping claims at Davos 2026,
00:14many of which were not based in truth.
00:16After the war, we gave Greenland back to Denmark.
00:22How stupid were we to do that? But we did it. But we gave it back.
00:27While the US assumed responsibility for Greenland's defence during World War II,
00:32this didn't affect Denmark's sovereignty over the island, so Washington had nothing to give back.
00:38Denmark listed Greenland as a non-self-governing territory with the UN after the war,
00:43effectively acknowledging its colonial status.
00:46Despite different attempts by the US to purchase Greenland over the decades,
00:50Washington formally recognised Denmark's sovereignty over the territory in a 1951 defence agreement.
00:56So other presidents have spent, whether foolishly or not, trillions and trillions of dollars on NATO
01:02and gotten absolutely nothing in return. We've never asked for anything.
01:07It's always a one-way street.
01:08It's wrong to imply that NATO hasn't done anything for the US and never would.
01:13To date, it's the only country to have ever invoked the Alliance's Article 5 mutual defence measure,
01:18which it did in the aftermath of the 9-11 terrorist attacks.
01:22NATO came to the US's aid in a variety of ways, such as enhancing intelligence sharing,
01:28providing increased security to US facilities, and launching its first ever anti-terror operation.
01:34As for NATO contributions, official figures show that the US was contributing about 16%
01:39to its common budget between 2024 and 2025, nowhere near 100%.
01:44And estimates put the US's defence spending at around 65% to 70% of the Alliance's total.
01:50A large majority for sure, but certainly not all of it.
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