Greenland ‘will stay Greenland’ ex-top adviser declares in major blow to Trump | World | News

“Greenland will stay Greenland,” a former top adviser to Donald Trump has said. IBM’s vice chairman, Gary Cohn, who provided the US President with economic advice during his first term, has said Mr Trump will not be able to force Greenland to change ownership.

Mr Cohn also said that a major part of Mr Trump’s renewed efforts to acquire the world’s largest island is the need for access to critical minerals, including graphite, lithium, cobalt and rare earth elements. He also warned that “invading an independent country that is part of NATO” would be “over the edge”. Mr Cohn also suggested that the president may be overstating his demands as part of a negotiating tactic, something he said Mr Trump has done successfully in the past. “You’ve got to give Donald Trump some credit for the successes he’s had and he’s many times tried to overreach to get something in a compromise situation,” he said. “He has overreached in advertising something to end up getting what he actually wants. Maybe what he actually wants is a larger military presence and an offtake.”

“I just came from a US congressional delegation meeting, and I think there’s pretty uniform consensus with both Republicans and Democrats that Greenland will stay Greenland,” Mr Cohn said, according to the BBC.

He added that Greenland would be happy for the US to increase its military presence on the island, with the North Atlantic and Arctic Ocean “becoming much more of a military threat”. The US could also negotiate an “offtake” agreement for Greenland’s extensive, yet largely untapped, rare-earth mineral supplies, he suggested.

“But I think, you know, invading a country that doesn’t want to be invaded – that’s part of a militaristic alliance, NATO – seems to me to be a little bit over the edge at this point.”

Mr Cohn served as the director of the White House National Economic Council and chief economic adviser to Mr Trump from 2017 to 2018. He managed the administration’s domestic and global economic policy agenda.

These comments come as US Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent told reporters at the World Economic Forum in Davos that there had been an over-reaction to the president’s comments. He urged people to “relax” and “let things play out” on the tariff threats against Europe over Greenland.

He compared the reaction to Mr Trump’s announcement US tariffs last year and claimed the current situation was different.

“This is the same kind of hysteria we heard on April 2nd. There was a panic. And what I am urging everyone here is sit back, take a deep breath and let things play out,” he said. “The worst thing countries can do is escalate against the United States. Back then only one country, China, escalated. We ended up in an unfortunate tit-for-tat.

“What the president is threatening on Greenland is very different than the other trade deals so I would urge all countries to stick with their trade deals. We have agreed on them and it does provide great certainty,” he added.

Mr Bessent then accused the media of taking a “maximalist position” on whether the US was still an ally of Europe.

“Of course Europe is an ally, the US NATO membership is unquestioned, we are partners in trying to stop the tragic war between Russia and Ukraine, but that does not mean that we cannot have disagreements on the future of Greenland,” he said.

On January 17, Mr Trump announced via Truth Social that he would impose a 10% tariff on eight European nations, including Denmark, Germany, France and the UK, beginning February 1. He stated these tariffs would increase to 25% on June 1 and remain in place until a deal is reached for the “complete and total purchase of Greenland”.