What you need to know
• Greenland deal: US President Donald Trump says he has “formed the framework of a future deal” on Greenland after a meeting with the NATO chief Mark Rutte in Davos, Switzerland. He described it as an “infinite” agreement, without providing specifics. Trump also said new tariffs are no longer needed on European nations that opposed his ambitions.
• Speech in Davos: During remarks earlier, the US president ruled out using military force to acquire Greenland as he doubled-down on his demand for control of the island. The president also issued harsh criticism of Europe and touted his domestic agenda.
• Possible price tag: Trump also said he could envision paying a sum of money for Greenland, which is a semiautonomous Danish territory, while calling Denmark “ungrateful” for refusing to relinquish it.
US stocks rally as Trump softens tone on Greenland, backs off tariff threat
US stocks rallied on Wednesday as President Donald Trump struck a softer tone on his confrontation with Europe over Greenland, saying he will not levy his recently threatened tariffs on imports from some European countries.
Stocks rebounded this morning after Trump said he would not use “excessive strength and force” to acquire Greenland. Stocks jumped higher and extended gains in the afternoon after Trump posted on social media saying he had a productive meeting with Mark Rutte, the secretary general of NATO, and will not be imposing his planned tariffs on European countries that were set for February 1.
Stocks finished the day with solid gains, regaining some ground after suffering their worst day since October on Tuesday.
The Dow gained 589 points, or 1.21%, reversing course after dropping 871 points on Tuesday. The S&P 500 closed higher by 1.16% and had its best day since late November. The tech-heavy Nasdaq rose 1.18% and had its best day in just over one month. The S&P 500 is just 1.6% away from a record high.
While uncertainty lingers about the framework of the “future deal” announced by Trump, Wall Street rallied on the shift in tone. The US dollar slightly strengthened against major currencies and Treasury bonds rallied, pushing yields lower.
Read more here.
Denmark welcomes Trump ruling out taking “Greenland by force," says foreign minister
Denmark welcomed US President Donald Trump’s announcement that he has ruled out taking “Greenland by force and paused the trade war” with European allies, Danish Foreign Minister Lars Lokke Rasmussen said.
The foreign minister said both sides still need to address the United States’ security concerns in the Arctic while respecting what he called Denmark’s red lines.
Here’s what to know since Trump announced he formed a “framework of a future deal” on Greenland
Just a few hours after his address at the World Economic Forum, US President Donald Trump announced he had “formed the framework of a future deal” on Greenland after a meeting with the NATO chief Mark Rutte in Davos, Switzerland.
US stocks jumped with this news.
Negotiations between Denmark, Greenland and the United States will “go forward,” NATO spokesperson Alison Hart said after Trump’s announcement. NATO allies will focus on securing the Arctic through “collective efforts.”
“The day is ending on a better note than it began,” Danish Foreign Minister Lars Lokke Rasmussen wrote on social media.
Here’s what you need to know:
The “infinite” deal: Asked by CNN’s Kaitlan Collins whether the deal fulfilled his desire to own Greenland, Trump said it’s the “ultimate long-term deal” that “puts everybody in a very good position.” Trump described the length of the deal as “infinite.”
No tariffs on European countries: As part of the framework announcement, Trump dropped this threat of tariffs on a number of European countries for their support of Greenland. Sweden welcomed the news.
NATO chief weighs in: NATO Secretary General Mark Rutte said that Trump’s Truth Social post about reaching a “framework” for a deal was “exactly to the point.”
Cost of Greenland: Trump earlier said he could envision paying a sum of money for Greenland now that he’s ruled out using military force to acquire it.
Learn more below about the importance of Greenland and the Arctic.
CNN's Nick Paton Walsh explains why the Arctic and Greenland is so important to Russia, to the United States, Canada and Norway.
CNN’s Kevin Liptak, Alejandra Jaramillo, Max Saltman and Jennifer Hansler contributed to the report.
NATO spokesperson says negotiations over Greenland will "go forward"
Negotiations between Denmark, Greenland and the United States will “go forward,” NATO’s spokesperson said on Wednesday, after US President Donald Trump reversed course on threatened tariffs following a “very productive” meeting with Secretary General Mark Rutte
NATO allies will focus on securing the Arctic through “collective efforts,” NATO spokesperson Alison Hart said.
“Discussions among NATO Allies on the framework the President referenced will focus on ensuring Arctic security through the collective efforts of Allies,” Hart said, “especially the seven Arctic Allies.”
Trump said in a post on Truth Social that he had developed a framework plan for a “future deal” over Greenland. The exact details of the framework remain unknown. Rutte earlier told journalists to “read the Truth Social post” when asked about the framework.
GOP lawmakers participate in Greenland cake-cutting at conservative event
A handful of House Republicans, who are allies of President Donald Trump, recently participated in cutting a cake in the shape of Greenland and decorated with the American flag.
Reps. Anna Paulina Luna of Florida, Andy Ogles of Tennessee and Abe Hamadeh of Arizona attended the event hosted by the conservative group Republicans for National Renewal, which promotes the America First agenda and a Trump third term. The event held Tuesday at the Kennedy Center celebrated the anniversary of Trump’s inauguration.
“51st state,” the group’s executive director could be heard saying as the Greenland cake was presented to the lawmakers, according to a video taken by an independent journalist.
Ogles has introduced a resolution that would amend the Constitution to allow Trump to serve a third term and legislation that would direct Congress to back Trump’s efforts to acquire Greenland.
CNN has reached out to the offices of Luna, Ogles and Hamadeh for comment.
Trump says Greenland framework is an "infinite" deal
President Donald Trump stopped short of saying his new framework deal for Greenland would include US ownership of the island.
Asked by CNN’s Kaitlan Collins whether the deal fulfilled his desire to own Greenland, Trump paused for a moment to think before saying: “It’s a long-term deal.”
Trump, who later described the length of the deal as “infinite,” described it as an agreement everyone is happy with, and that it meets his requirements for controlling Greenland.
Sweden welcomes Trump's tariff threat withdrawal
Swedish Foreign Minister Maria Malmer Stenergard said it was good that US President Donald Trump dropped this threat of tariffs on a number of European countries for their support of Greenland.
Trump had threatened tariffs on goods from Denmark, Norway, Sweden, France, Germany, the Netherlands, Finland and the UK amid rising tensions around the American president’s bid to annex the Arctic island.
Trump says Putin has accepted invitation to join his Gaza reconstruction Board of Peace
President Donald Trump said on Wednesday that Russian President Vladimir Putin has agreed to join his proposed Board of Peace, a body intended to oversee the reconstruction of Gaza.
“Because we want everybody. We want all nations. We want all nations where people have control, people have power, that way we are never going to have a problem. This is the greatest board ever assembled,” Trump said when asked by CNN’s Kaitlan Collins, why he would invite Putin.
The president acknowledged this would be controversial.
“Yeah, I have some controversial people on it, but these are people that get the job done,” he added.
“So he was invited. He’s accepted,” Trump said.
At a meeting Wednesday of the Russian Security Council, President Vladimir Putin did not commit to joining the Board of Peace but said his Foreign Ministry would “study the documents” and “consult with our strategic partners.” He also floated using Russian assets frozen in the US to pay the $1 billion fee for a permanent seat and for further reconstruction of Gaza.
NATO chief says Trump’s post about Greenland “framework” is “exactly to the point”
NATO Secretary General Mark Rutte said that US President Donald Trump’s Truth Social post about reaching a “framework” for a deal on Greenland was “exactly to the point.”
“His Truth Social post is exactly to the point, and I totally agree with that,” Rutte told reporters, saying he had a “very good meeting” with Trump.
Pressed for further questions, Rutte said, “Read the Truth Social post.”
“You will see everything,” Rutte added. “There will be more conversations.”
Dow surges 700 points after Trump backs off Greenland and tariff threats
US stocks jumped higher Wednesday afternoon after Trump posted on social media that he had a productive meeting with Mark Rutte, the Secretary General of NATO, and will not be imposing his planned tariffs on European countries that were set for February 1.
The Dow surged 722 points, or 1.49%. The S&P 500 rose 1.47% and the tech-heavy Nasdaq rose 1.6%. The S&P 500 is less than 1.5% away from a record high.
Stocks had already been moving higher throughout the day after Trump in the morning said he would not use “excessive strength and force” to acquire Greenland.
The sharp reversal prompted relief on Wall Street. Some analysts had expected Trump to back down from his tariff threats — a nod to the “Trump Always Chickens Out,” or TACO, trade. While uncertainty remains, Wall Street rallied on the shift in tone.
“Looks like it’s TACO Wednesday,” said Art Hogan, chief market strategist for B. Riley Financial.
Tillis calls Trump’s posture toward Greenland and Denmark "disrespectful"
Republican Sen. Thom Tillis on Wednesday described President Donald Trump’s posture toward Greenland and Denmark as “disrespectful,” especially considering how many Danes served and lost their lives alongside American service members in Afghanistan.
Speaking with CNN’s Jake Tapper, Tillis recounted visiting a war memorial in Denmark recently. “I was wondering what the families, the loved ones of those soldiers, were thinking when we’re showing this sort of disrespect to a nation that, literally, on a per capita basis, gave as many lives in some of the most contested areas of Afghanistan as you can find.”
“This is just not the way to keep the free world together,” Tillis said. He later added: “This is not who we are. This is not how you maintain the most important, profound and successful military alliance in the history of this planet.”
“It’s disrespectful, it’s unproductive, and it’s unsustainable,” he said.
Tillis gave Trump credit for pushing more NATO member countries to contribute percentages of their GDP to defense spending.
But he criticized the president for lumping all NATO countries in with his criticism for a few of them, and for his recent statements indicating he doesn’t believe other NATO members would abide by their Article V obligations if the United States were to be attacked. The speech, he said, was a “missed opportunity.”
Tillis said the only people happy with the tumult in NATO right now are China’s Xi Jinping and Russia’s Vladimir Putin.
Trump says he's reached framework deal on Greenland with NATO's chief and that tariffs are no longer needed
President Donald Trump declared Wednesday he had developed a framework plan that would satisfy his demands for Greenland.
He said the deal, which he discussed with NATO’s secretary general, meant he would no longer impose new tariffs on European nations that had opposed his ambitions to annex the Arctic island.
“Based upon a very productive meeting that I have had with the Secretary General of NATO, Mark Rutte, we have formed the framework of a future deal with respect to Greenland and, in fact, the entire Arctic Region,” Trump wrote on Truth Social.
“This solution, if consummated, will be a great one for the United States of America, and all NATO Nations. Based upon this understanding, I will not be imposing the Tariffs that were scheduled to go into effect on February 1st.”
Trump said additional discussions regarding the Golden Dome missile defense system were ongoing. Trump has said Greenland would be essential to the system.
He said top US officials, including Vice President JD Vance, Secretary of State Marco Rubio and his special envoy Steve Witkoff, would be responsible for the negotiations.
NATO chief thanks Trump for “getting” Europe and Canada to “step up”
NATO Secretary General Mark Rutte praised US President Donald Trump at a bilateral meeting on the sidelines of Davos on Wednesday, thanking Trump for “getting the Europeans and Canada to really step up” on their contributions to the military alliance.
Rutte told Trump that there had long been “one irritant” in the NATO alliance since its founding: “that the Europeans were not paying the same as the US was paying.”
Rutte thanked Trump for his work on the 2025 pledge made by NATO members to contribute 5% of their GDP to defense or security spending by 2035, while noting that NATO countries had suffered a high human cost while fighting alongside the United States in Afghanistan.
He added that the United States has an “absolute guarantee” that NATO allies would come to the US’ aid if attacked.
Trump says he could envision paying for Greenland
President Donald Trump said he could envision paying a sum of money for Greenland now that he’s ruled out using military force to acquire it.
“I could see that,” he said when asked if there was a price he would pay for the semiautonomous Danish territory.
“But there’s a bigger price, and that’s the price, of the price of safety, national security, I mean international security,” Trump said. “That’s really the price. That’s the big price.”
Denmark has made clear its territory is not for sale. But Trump said it was an imperative it come under US control.
“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, and so we’ll see what happens,” he said.
When the president was asked what the consequences would be for nations that oppose his bid — as he told Davos earlier, “we will remember” — Trump demurred.
“You’ll have to figure that out for yourself,” he said.
Trump touts city crackdowns before CEOs at Davos
President Donald Trump on Wednesday promoted his administration’s crackdown on US cities while speaking to a group of chief executives at a reception in Davos, Switzerland, boasting about crime statistics and praising aggressive law enforcement tactics.
“We’ve got tough law enforcement, smart law enforcement and patriotic law enforcement,” Trump said, claiming that the US “had the best crime numbers that we’ve had in ever in recorded history,” despite the country “having a lot of people in the country that shouldn’t be here,” Trump said.
“One example is Washington, DC,” he said, adding at another point that “Memphis is amazing,” and that “when you go to Louisiana, what we’ve done there has been incredible.” He added that it would be “much more helpful if we could have a little participation.”
The president again claimed, without providing evidence, that Democratic leaders are privately seeking his help. “We have a couple of Democrat mayors who, very quietly, are begging us for help,” Trump said, adding that he would do the same if he were in their position. “I would do it,” he said. “I’d be saying, ‘Mr. Trump, could you quietly come over here and would you do this, President, for me, send about 1,000 troops in here, and we do it fast, and we get rid of the criminals.’”
Trump went on to reference the visible presence of security forces in major cities.
The president’s comments come as Minnesota has emerged as the latest focal point of the Trump administration’s intensified, coast-to-coast immigration enforcement crackdown.
Trump addresses critics who label him a "dictator," saying "sometimes you need a dictator"
President Donald Trump boasted of praise for his speech at the World Economic Forum, saying that his critics typically call him a “dictator.”
“We got great reviews. I can’t believe it. We got good reviews in that speech. Usually they say he’s a horrible dictator type person. I’m a ‘dictator.’ But sometimes you need a dictator,” Trump said at a CEO reception. “But they didn’t say that in this case. And no, it’s common sense. It’s all based on common sense.”
In his earlier address, he spoke of the US economy and his plans for Greenland.
The president has previously both denied any aspirations to be a dictator, while also claiming that some people want him to be one.
France dismisses Trump’s drug price claims
France pushed back Wednesday on US President Donald Trump’s claims that he strong-armed his French counterpart Emmanuel Macron into raising prescription drug prices.
In a post to X, the French Presidency explained that Macron “does not set” prescription drug prices.
The French rebuke included a gif of Trump with the words: “FAKE NEWS.”
In a speech at the World Economic Forum in Davos on Wednesday, Trump said that Macron agreed to raise the drug prices after he threatened to put “a 25% tariff on everything that you sell into the United States, and a 100% tariff when your wines and champagnes.”
Trump claimed that Macron, along with other world leaders, took about “three minutes” to agree to his demands.
Norway's finance minister says it's “important” that Trump rejects military action in Greenland
Norwegian Finance Minister and former NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg told CNN’s Richard Quest it was “important” that US President Donald Trump ruled out using the military to annex Greenland.
“Of course, that is an important message,” Stoltenberg said of Trump’s comments on Wednesday, “because up to now many were afraid that he actually was going to threaten to use force to acquire Greenland.”
Nonetheless, Stoltenberg continued, Greenland and Denmark’s “territorial integrity should be respected by all.”
Stoltenberg also noted that politicians need to be careful while texting with each other, as “it may become public.”
Earlier this week, Trump shared text messages from other leaders, including Norway’s Prime Minister Jonas Gahr Støre and French President Emmanuel Macron.
GOP senator on Trump ruling out taking Greenland by force: "Unfortunate it needed to be said"
Republican Sen. Lisa Murkowski on Wednesday criticized President Donald Trump’s demand for US control of Greenland as an affront to the Greenlandic people, even as she applauded him for explicitly ruling out the use of military force to seize the country.
“It’s unfortunate that it needed to be said,” Murkowski told CNN on the sidelines of the World Economic Forum. “I have relationships and friendships with the Greenlandic people, and I felt for them today. I felt deeply for them today because there was no recognition by President Trump that there are even people that exist as Greenlanders.”
The Alaskan senator, who has adamantly opposed the US acquiring Greenland, said that she agrees with Trump’s view that the Danish territory is strategically important. But she argued that its future should be determined by its citizens, taking particular issue with Trump’s description of Greenland as a “piece of ice.”
“He’s referring to it as a piece of real estate,” Murkowski said. “But it is a place where, again, you have native people who live there. You have communities.”
Like other US officials, Murkowski said worried European leaders have pressed her during the conference for insight into Trump’s intentions toward Greenland, especially after he threatened to impose tariffs on a group of US allies if they won’t support his plans there.
But she could only offer so many answers. At an event Tuesday night, Murkowski said she asked Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick what Trump planned to say in his speech.
“He’s going to say what he’s going to say,” she said Lutnick responded.
Trump reiterates he does not think military action necessary to acquire Greenland
President Donald Trump reiterated he does not think military action will be necessary to acquire Greenland.
“We’ll see what happens. The military’s not on the table. I don’t think it’ll be necessary. I really don’t. I think people are going to use better judgment, and use their best judgment, and I don’t think — that will not be necessary,” Trump said when asked what prompted him to take military action off the table, during a bilateral meeting with Egyptian President Abdel Fattah el-Sisi at the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland.
Sisi also praised Trump for his role in reaching a ceasefire in Gaza.
“I re-emphasize it for our colleagues and before the media, but if not for President Trump, we wouldn’t have reached an agreement on the Gaza,” he said.
Trump said, “I appreciate what you said on Gaza, because it’s true. If we weren’t involved, there’d be no peace.”
He added if Hamas will be “taken out if they don’t get rid of the guns.”
