Trump pledges not to use military force to take over Greenland U.S. stocks rise

US President Donald Trump has declared that he "doesn't need or want" to use military force to gain control of Denmark's Greenland. "People thought, I'm going to use force. <...> I will not use force," Trump assured, speaking at the international economic forum in Davos.

But at the same time, the US president called Greenland "US territory" and called for the resumption of talks on the "purchase" of Greenland by the States. Greenland is "essential to America's strategic and national security," Trump once again remarked. "Only the United States can protect this vast territory, <...> develop it, improve it, and make it useful and safe for Europe and the United States," he added.

U.S. stock markets were optimistic about Trump's speech in Davos. The broad index of American stocks S&P 500 began trading on January 21 in the green zone - plus 0.36%, Nasdaq 100 rose by 0.18%, Dow Jones added 0.4%, the index of small and medium capitalization companies Russell 2000, which has been growing over the past few sessions, on the contrary, lost 1.21%.

The Cboe Volatility Index (VIX), a gauge of fear on Wall Street, fell below 20, the highest level it has reached since last November.

The rebound in the U.S. markets followed the fall at the end of the previous session, January 20, when all key U.S. stock indices showed the strongest decline since October 2025. So investors reacted to the risks of resumption of a full-scale trade war between the U.S. and Europe amid Trump's efforts to gain control over Greenland, Bloomberg writes. As part of these efforts, the U.S. president announced on January 17 that the states would impose additional 10 percent duties on goods from eight European countries from the beginning of February. Those opposed Trump's aspirations to gain control over Greenland and supported Denmark.

This article was AI-translated and verified by a human editor