Fact-checking Trump’s Greenland-focused speech at Davos

This article originally appeared on Politifact.

While urging European leaders to let the United States take Greenland, President Donald Trump has made numerous false or misleading statements about NATO, Greenland’s history with Denmark, and the U.S. housing market.

Trump told attendees at the World Economic Forum that he would not use force to seize Greenland, while speaking of his ability to negotiate through tariff threats.

“You can say yes, and we will be very grateful, or you can say no, and we will remember,” Trump said in his hour-long speech on January 21.

Hours later, Trump said on Truth Social that he had met with NATO Secretary General Mark Rutte and “formulated a framework for a future agreement with respect to Greenland” and would therefore not impose tariffs. The post did not provide details.

In an already tense moment for European leaders, amid comments dismissive of NATO, Trump referred to “Iceland” on four occasions when considering the reaction to his efforts in Greenland.

Here is a validation of his statements.

“We didn’t get anything” from NATO.

This is wrong. Trump ignored NATO’s activation of Article 5 after the September 11, 2001 attacks on the United States.

The main text of the article says that an “armed attack against one or more” NATO members constitutes an attack on all members and gives rise to assistance, including the use of armed forces. According to historian David Murphy of Ireland’s Maynooth University, Danish forces were among the NATO countries supporting US efforts in Afghanistan. Murphy said 44 Danish soldiers died in combat, the highest per capita death rate among coalition members. He added that eight other Danish soldiers died in the American war against Iraq.

Non-NATO countries, including Russia, also supported the United States after 9/11, said Mark Trachtenberg, a political science professor at the University of California at Los Angeles who studies international relations.

Read more: Trump cancels threat to impose tariffs on Greenland, says NATO agreed to ‘framework’ for future Arctic agreement

NATO’s benefit to the United States during the Cold War was to prevent the Soviets from “harnessing their vast resources into their war machine,” Trachtenberg said, and this was achieved without West Germany arming itself with nuclear weapons. “What we got was a political system that both sides could live with – an extraordinary achievement.”

“I have done more to help NATO than any other president, and by a large margin, more than anyone else.”

Experts said Trump takes some credit for allies agreeing in 2025 to increase their spending in NATO. But they also said that Russian President Vladimir Putin’s invasions of Ukraine in 2014 and 2022 led to increased European defense spending.

“We gave Greenland back to Denmark.”

This is misleading.

After Germany invaded Denmark, the United States assumed responsibility for the defense of Greenland and established a military presence on the island that remains today, albeit on a diminished scale. The United States never owned the nation, so it could not return it.

Trump was more precise when he said that during World War II, “we saved Greenland and succeeded in preventing our enemies from gaining a foothold in our hemisphere.”

“In 2019, Denmark said it would spend more than $200 million to strengthen Greenland’s defences. But as you know, they spent less than 1% of that amount.”

This is true, according to news reports.

In 2019, Denmark pledged to invest about $200 million in military spending in Greenland. At the time, Trump spoke of his desire to buy the area. However, in 2024, a Danish media outlet reported that Denmark only spent about 1% of the money.

In 2025, amid renewed threats from Trump to seize Greenland, Reuters reported that Danish Defense Minister Troels Lund Poulsen said: “For many years we have neglected to make the necessary investments in ships and aircraft that will help monitor our kingdom, and that is what we are now trying to do something about.”

In October, the Danish government pledged to invest about $4 billion in military spending in Greenland, Reuters reported.

“In 2025, for the first time in 50 years, the United States will experience reverse migration.”

A Jan. 13 analysis by the Brookings Institution estimated that net migration — comparing the number of people immigrating to the United States to the number of people moving out of the country — was near zero or negative in 2025, citing Trump’s immigration policies. The analysis also estimated that this trend would remain in place in 2026, while warning that “recent reductions in data transparency make estimates more ambiguous.”

The last time the United States experienced negative net migration was more than 85 years ago, from 1931 to 1940, during the Great Depression.

Read more: Trump says he wants to “permanently pause” immigration into the United States from poor countries

“Grocery prices, energy prices, airline tickets, mortgage rates, rent and car payments are all falling, and falling fast.”

The accuracy of this statement is mixed.

Mortgage rates have fallen from just over 7% when he took office to just over 6% as of mid-January, and airline ticket prices and new and used car prices have also seen declines.

The picture is more accurate for grocery and energy prices.

Grocery prices have risen at rates similar to their rise during President Joe Biden’s final year in office. While the prices of some specific items — including eggs, bacon, dairy products and bread — have fallen, the prices of many other staples have risen, including ground beef, steak, chicken breasts, coffee, fruits and vegetables, sugar and sweets.

Regarding energy, the cost of electricity has risen significantly, almost 7% higher than a year ago. But gasoline prices witnessed a noticeable decline. After spending the first 10 months of 2025 in a holding pattern of around $3.10 per gallon, gasoline prices have fallen below $2.80 per gallon nationally since November.

“The main factor in raising housing costs has been the mass invasion of our borders.”

There is no evidence to support the relationship between immigrants in the country illegally and high housing costs. Instead, experts point to a shortage of millions of homes due to years of non-building. High interest rates and increased demand for homes during the pandemic have exacerbated the problem.

“Almost all windmills are made in China, however, I have not been able to find any wind farms in China.”

This is pants on fire!

China owns about 44% of the world’s wind farm capacity, ranking first in the world and almost three times as much as the United States. China is also planning or building more wind farm capacity than any other country.

PolitiFact staff writer Maria Briceno contributed to this story.