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Trump Says He & NATO Chief have "Framework" of Future Greenland Deal; Trump Claims "Framework" Reached on Future Greenland Deal After Meeting with NATO Chief; Withdraws Tariff Threat; Trump: Greenland Deal Framework "Gets Us Everything We Needed" 3-3:30p ET

Aired January 21, 2026 - 15:00   ET

THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.

ERICA HILL, CNN HOST: That needs a lot more context and a lot more information to see if that would happen. But to your point about what can happen now, those are all things that can actually happen in the moment without any pressure from President Trump because of that 1951 agreement. So, we didn't actually need to get to that point to have a further military presence for the United States in Greenland. It's -- it's important to remember in this moment.

STEPHEN MOORE, FORMER TRUMP ECONOMIC ADVISER: Good point.

BRIANNA KEILAR, CNN HOST: Let's go to Kaitlan Collins. She is there in Davos. Kaitlan, a lot of developments here.

KAITLAN COLLINS, CNN ANCHOR, THE SOURCE: Yes, there are, but not a lot of details, Brianna. And obviously that is what's key. And let me just give you some insight into where I'm standing because we're -- we're basically in the lobby of where the President addressed Davos earlier in the World Economic Forum.

These stairs behind me, the President is right up those stairs. He's been behind closed doors for a few hours now. He's been meeting with the NATO Secretary General. He met with a bunch of business CEOs in that private reception after he spoke to them briefly. And now we're waiting to see the President himself, given he is now, since we have seen him last, announced this deal, the framework of a deal, he says, that would stave off these tariffs that he had been threatening against these European countries.

And just to give you some insight, we've been watching half of his cabinet basically come down these stairs before us and exiting the building. That includes the Commerce Secretary, Howard Lutnick. And obviously, we asked him for any details on this agreement that the President said that he had reached with Mark Rutte. He just said, read the truth, read the truth. Obviously, referencing the President's Truth Social post.

We also saw the Secretary of State, Marco Rubio and Jared Kushner. They both declined to -- to comment at all on this announcement from the President or that forthcoming meeting with President Putin. And so, we're waiting to see what the details of this agreement are exactly and what it is the President has hammered out behind closed doors, as he said there. I do think it's notable, though, that in the speech he gave earlier

today, when we arrived here in Davos, just a couple hundred yards from where I'm standing now, the President noted that dip in the stock market yesterday after he had been threatening this and what the stock market was looking like on Tuesday as well. And so, obviously, that is something that the President is very well aware of after he was threatening these tariffs on European countries until Greenland was in the possession of the United States.

HILL: Kaitlan, it's also notable that happening earlier today that a group of European parliament members blocked this vote to ratify the agreement that the E.U. and the U.S. had come to over tariffs disagreement that was struck back in July, saying in a statement, until the U.S. decides to engage on a path of cooperation rather than confrontation, that business as usual would be impossible.

How has that been rippling through the events of today?

COLLINS: Well, I mean, basically everything that the President has said since Saturday has -- has loomed over this entire conference. It's -- you know, this technically the theme of Davos this year is the spirit of dialogue. That has certainly been a very spirited dialogue that's been playing out. And it has so much to do with what the President came out and threatened. And then him backing off of using military force today, though still noting he believed the United States is capable of -- of doing so has obviously played into all of this.

He also directly criticized a lot of the world leaders that he's either coming face to face with here or that he's been having conversations with, including mocking the glasses that the French president was wearing after he published their private text messages. And so, you just see what that relationship is like between the two of them.

And when I saw Mark Rutte going into his meeting with President Trump earlier, we tried to ask him for comment on how the dialogue, how the discussions between the two of them had been going. He is someone who is very delicately navigated the Trump relationship. He's the one who called him the daddy basically of NATO and was mocked by some for doing that, but stood by it and -- and has, you know, been very warm towards President Trump. The question is whether or not that is what helped them get to this agreement on Greenland, whether or not it holds and also, you know, what that looks like going forward from here.

There's been a bunch of Democrats who are here. They're very critical of President Trump and his thoughts on Greenland. That includes Gavin Newsom. He said that he doesn't believe the President was ever wanting to invade Greenland, was never actually going to do so. And also, the Kentucky governor, Andy Beshear, was talking about damaging the U.S. relationships with those very European leaders.

KEILAR: Yes, I mean, that's the thing about this statement, Kaitlan. It's kind of like that mirror in "Harry Potter," where you look at it and you see, I guess, what you want to see when you do look at it. I guess the question then is what prompted Trump to post this to at least try to change the conversation, if not the reality, right, of the situation?

COLLINS: Yes, and I think it has completely dominated day one of Davos here. Obviously, he has his Board of Peace speech tomorrow and is going to be meeting with the people that he's invited to join that. But this has been, you know, the center and central focus of basically everything he has spoken about. It was a huge part of his speech earlier when he was at times mixing up Greenland and Iceland and using them interchangeably as he was talking about why he believes it's important to the United States.

[15:05:04]

But obviously, this has been a fixation of his since his first term in office. We've never seen him try to act on it in the way that he has in this second term. And I should note, there's Karoline Leavitt, the press secretary, leaving behind me. So, the President should be behind -- should be behind her any moment.

And that is the real question, Brianna, is what are the details of this agreement that the President said that they'd come to and how did they came to this agreement so quickly. And also, he didn't really say what it needs to look like to have it be ratified in his view. He -- he basically said that's another hurdle for them to jump through.

So, needless to say, I think a lot of the European leaders here will have questions about that, including people like the other leaders that have been here. The Canadian prime minister, one of the United States' biggest allies, who was kind of talking about creating distance between the United States and Canada, and independence instead of relying on the United States because of the threats like this that come from the White House, even if they are eventually pulled back.

HILL: Yes, absolutely. Kaitlan, stay with us.

We do want to bring back in Nic Robertson, who's joining us from Greenland, because Nic, you're getting some fresh reaction there to this -- this headline essentially is what we got in this Truth Social post. What more are you hearing?

NIC ROBERTSON, CNN INTERNATIONAL DIPLOMATIC EDITOR: Yes, concern, some relief as well and I'm getting this from a politician here I just spoke with. I said, you know, what about the events of today? Some -- so, some relief on the fact that it doesn't appear there's an immediate military threat, but also a bit of consternation and concern, surprise, sort of semi-positive surprise about this new announcement by President Trump that is sort of working out a deal on Arctic security with NATO.

They're telling me here that this is coming as a surprise to them, that they don't have details on this. They don't know the nuance of it. And therefore, they're concerned. They really have been like, I guess, like many people at the moment, unawares of what was being discussed behind the scenes. It's not clear if the Prime Minister or perhaps the Foreign Minister here had some -- had some knowledge of this, had some sight of this. We know that the Prime Minister is due to give a press conference here tomorrow, not today.

But at a -- at the main political level here, it's relief but shock and they really want to know the details because they don't have them at the moment. And -- and, of course, the issue of sovereignty and not becoming part of the United States is just as key for people now as it was two hours ago before President Trump spoke at Davos, more than half an hour ago when he -- when he mentioned that there was potentially an off-ramp here. That still remains a -- a very live issue here.

KEILAR: Are they, Nic, confused by what the President's objectives are, whether it is to acquire Greenland or it is to have a much larger presence and access to the rare earth minerals, even though he downplayed that today? We have to be clear about that. Are they -- are they confused by what is sort of driving him as we are looking at these live pictures of him coming down the stairs at Davos?

ROBERTSON: Yes. They don't get it because they think that they're a great partner to the United States. They've always been a good partner to the United States. They feel close to the United States, grateful to the United States, want to do business with the United States. So, they don't get it.

And last year, they thought that President Trump wasn't so serious when he said he wanted Greenland. Now, of course, it got incredibly serious. And the concern was really focused in and around that issue of a military takeover. That's what drove fear sky high here.

But now things have walked back a little bit from that. But no, they still don't really understand why President Trump won't settle for everything that he can have ...

HILL: (INAUDIBLE) ...

ROBERTSON: ... that -- that the -- as many troops as he wants, as many bases as he wants.

DONALD TRUMP, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: ... people jumped at, really fantastic for the USA, gets everything we wanted, including especially real national security and international.

COLLINS: How so? Can you give us some details, please?

TRUMP: Well, the deal is going to be put out pretty soon and we will see. So, it's right now a little bit in progress, but pretty far along. It gets us everything we needed to get.

(CROSSTALK)

COLLINS: How will you ratify it, Mr. President?

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: (INAUDIBLE) ...

TRUMP: Say again? UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: What did Mark Rutte said?

TRUMP: Well, he's a great leader. I think he's fantastic. The Secretary General was representing the other side, which is really us, too, because you know, a very important member of NATO. I've done a lot for NATO. And it's really nice -- I mean, it's a deal that everybody is very happy with.

COLLINS: Does it still include -- does it still include the United States having ownership of Greenland like you said you wanted?

TRUMP: It's a long-term deal. It's the ultimate long-term deal, and I think it -- it puts everybody in a really good position, especially as it pertains to security and minerals and everything else.

[15:10:04]

(CROSSTALK)

COLLINS: How long is -- how long is it, Mr. President?

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Have you spoken to other European leaders?

TRUMP: What?

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Have you already spoken to other European leaders?

TRUMP: Yes, I am.

COLLINS: How long -- how long will the deal be, Mr. President.

TRUMP: Infinite.

(CROSSTALK)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Did you speak to Denmark? Did you speak to Denmark?

TRUMP: There is -- there is no -- there is no time limit, it's forever.

COLLINS: And how would you ratify the deal?

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: (INAUDIBLE) money involved?

TRUMP: It's signed forever.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Will -- will there ...

COLLINS: But you haven't signed anything yet, right?

TRUMP: It's a deal -- it's a deal that's forever.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Will there be ...

(CROSSTALK) UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Will there be an effect?

TRUMP: No -- no money, I mean, people are -- people -- what happens is people are out there and they're working it right now. They're working the details of the deal, but it's in what's called an infinite deal. It's forever.

COLLINS: You talked about ...

(CROSSTALK)

TRUMP: There is no time yet.

(CROSSTALK)

COLLINS: You talked about being concerned, Mr. President, about Russia trying to come and take over Greenland. If you're worried that Putin would do something like that, why invite him to join your Board of Peace?

TRUMP: Because we want everybody. We want all nations. We want all nations where people have control, people have power, that way we're not never going to have a problem. This is the greatest board ever assembled and everybody wants to be on it. But yes, I have some controversial people on it, but these are people that get the job done. These are people that have tremendous influence and, you know, if I put all babies on the board, it wouldn't be very much. So, he was invited, he's accepted. Many people have accepted. I think -- I don't know of anybody that hasn't accepted, but it's going to be great -- I think the Board of Peace will be the most prestigious board ever and it's going to get a lot of work done that the United Nations should have done.

And we'll work with the United Nations, but the Board of Peace is going to be special. We're going to have peace.

It started off with Gaza, the Middle East. We've got peace in the Middle East, tremendous peace in the Middle East. Nobody thought that was possible and that happened by taking out the Iran nuclear threat. Without that, it could have never happened. But the board is going to be, I think, really fantastic and I think it'll be the most prestigious board of any board ever in world history. Thank you very much.

(CROSSTALK)

COLLINS: Thank you, Mr. President.

KEILAR: Our Kaitlan Collins, with the question there of the day, she said, does this deal include ownership -- the U.S. having ownership of Greenland. And the President's answer was, "Uh, it's a long-term deal."

HILL: Mm-hmm. And she pressed him on that and said, what does that mean? Kaitlan, let's -- let's bring you in now. So, really trying to -- and

thank you as always for trying to get those questions answered by the President. The ultimate long-term deal, it's infinite. There is an agreement in place that sort of meets those terms already.

COLLINS: Yes. And he seemed to say basically that his team is working on talking about this deal with the other European leaders, because obviously that's been a huge question here, especially how do the leaders of Denmark respond to this? Are they in agreement with what this deal looks like?

Because what the President had laid out there, because we didn't have a lot of details from his Truth Social post was less ownership fully of the United States of Greenland, which is what he had been laying out that he wanted. And instead, a deal, basically, that when I asked the timeline, he said it would be infinite.

One question is how that deal would be ratified. And in his post, he said, you know, if it's consummated, this would be this great deal. He didn't really lay out what that deal would look like there. And so, there are still some definite questions that remain here about what this means. It is clear, though, that the President is backing off that threat of tariffs that it roiled so many of the leaders here. And I think that's important.

And then also, this is going to be a huge thing tomorrow, which is this Board of Peace that the President is creating. It's on Gaza. But really, we've heard from officials who see it as a much bigger thing than just dealing with the future of what happens in Gaza and in the Middle East.

And I asked, you know, if you're so worried about Putin invading and taking Greenland, which is part of why he argued that the United States needed to own it so they could defend it from Russia and China, why invite Putin to be on that Board of Peace. You know, obviously, he's also waging a war in Ukraine against innocent people.

And the President's response was that if he put only babies on the Board, which was the phrase he used, that he didn't think the Board would be very effective. And so, yes, he noted that there are controversial people on that board, but he defended his decision to -- to invite Vladimir Putin, who has accepted that.

And he talked about others who have accepted it. I should note the French have not, the Italians have not, I believe, though there are still some of these invitations. I think they just went out last Friday. So, yes, we did get a few more details from the President there when it comes to this talk of what he wants Greenland and this relationship between the United States and Denmark to look like going forward. We'll see what Denmark has to say about this.

HILL: Yes. He said that deal, in his words, quote, gets us everything we wanted, everything we need to get. And yet, as you had asked him, you know, is this about ownership? Clearly, it is not ownership, but a long-term deal, he said. Quite the development today, certainly after the way things started this morning. KEILAR: Yes, certainly. And -- and Kaitlan, if you could stand by for

us, because we want to go to Nic Robertson real quick. He's there in Greenland.

Nic, this is really interesting as we've gotten a little more clarity here.

[15:15:03]

And the President also saying that it -- this puts everyone in a very good position when it comes to security and when it comes to minerals, and that this is infinite. You were just detailing that there is already an open-ended deal that appears to actually fit those characteristics that he is describing.

ROBERTSON: It's -- look, this is going to be talked about for a long time because it's very difficult to -- to kind of unpick precisely what the President is thinking and doing at any given time. You know, only a few hours ago, he was absolutely lambasting European and -- and NATO leaders individually, collectively for weaknesses without the United States. Yet now he seems to have made an agreement with them through Russia -- NATO.

That -- people are going to find it very hard to take that at complete face value. The President suddenly does a -- a, you know, a 180-degree turn. I think people are going to look at it as they often do, that the President kind of knew what he was going to do, that conversations have been had with the Danes a week ago in Washington between the Vice President, the Secretary of State, the Danish Foreign Minister, the Greenlandic Foreign Minister. Conversations were had. Mark Rutte was working away as -- as best he could at diplomacy in the background.

There was a narrative out there. We were told yesterday from the White House, just wait until, you know, President Trump gets here. You will all see.

The -- the idea of which President Trump does Europe pick, which President Trump do the Greenlanders put their faith in, the one that can be absolutely sort of ruthless and full of barbs in his language, or the one that's saying he's suddenly got a deal and is very happy. But absolutely, it's the point that you're making. It's the same point that Greenlanders, Danes have been making for a number of weeks now, that President Trump and the United States have all they want in Greenland an access to everything they want.

The detail, which is what the politicians here I'm talking to are asking about, what is the precise detail of the agreement that President Trump, Mark Rutter, seem to have come to. We know that the Danish Foreign Minister earlier today and in the past couple of hours after President Trump's main speech at Davos, but before this latest announcement, had said, absolutely ready to talk to the United States on any issue and concern. But we're not going to relinquish sovereignty of -- of Greenland.

The President seeming to indicate that that's become such a -- the sovereignty thing is such a long-term, infinite proposition now that it's not a concern. So, yes, it seems like a reset back to where everyone was before. So, the question becomes, which President Trump are you dealing with? You know, for European leaders who've really sort of recognized that the relationship across the transatlantic has frayed, is breaking and have used language that indicates that.

But for Greenlanders, I think today, you know, I'm going to get out and go and talk to some more. And now we've got more information and to try to see how they feel. But I think there's going to be a sense of immediate relief that they're not facing an immediate invasion, that it doesn't appear that the pressure of the sovereignty issue is immediate either. I think we're going to learn more about that, but that's how I think they'll be feeling.

HILL: Yes. And be interesting to see as you are able to get out there and talk to more people. We are going to fit in a quick break here. Stay with us as we continue to follow the breaking news. President Trump putting out on Truth Social and just speaking with our Kaitlan Collins, actually, to say there is this deal that gets -- in the President's word, gets us everything we wanted. When asked if this is about ownership, he said it's the ultimate long-term deal. Stay with us. The details on the other side of this break.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[15:23:25]

KEILAR: The President just moments ago, after days now and again reiterating today on the world stage in Davos that the U.S. needed to acquire Greenland, dodging a question about whether this deal that he is Trumpeting that he has come to with NATO that is still being worked out, dodging a question about whether that still includes acquiring Greenland. Let's listen to what he said.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

COLLINS: Does it still include -- does it still include the United States having ownership of Greenland like you said you wanted?

TRUMP: It's a long-term deal. It's the ultimate long-term deal, and I think it -- it puts everybody in a really good position, especially as it pertains to security and minerals and everything else.

(CROSSTALK)

COLLINS: How long is -- how long is it, Mr. President?

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Have you spoken to other European leaders?

TRUMP: What?

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Have you already spoken to other European leaders?

TRUMP: Yes, I am.

COLLINS: How long -- how long will the deal be, Mr. President. TRUMP: Infinite.

(CROSSTALK)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Did you speak to Denmark? Did you speak to Denmark?

TRUMP: There is -- there is no -- there is no time limit, it's forever.

COLLINS: And how would you ratify the deal?

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: (INAUDIBLE) money involved?

TRUMP: It's signed forever.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Will -- will there ...

COLLINS: But you haven't signed anything yet, right?

TRUMP: It's a deal -- it's a deal that's forever.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Will there be ...

(CROSSTALK)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Will there be an effect?

TRUMP: No -- no money, I mean, people are -- people -- what happens is people are out there and they're working it right now. They're working the details of the deal, but it's in what's called an infinite deal. It's forever.

COLLINS: You talked about ...

(CROSSTALK)

TRUMP: There is no time yet.

(CROSSTALK)

COLLINS: You talked about being concerned, Mr. President ...

(END VIDEO CLIP)

[15:25:00]

HILL: So, you're hearing there from the President answering questions from our colleague Kaitlan Collins there. But was asked very specifically, is this about ownership and we heard the President pause. He said this is a long-term deal, the ultimate long-term deal that it's infinite but gets us everything we wanted.

Here with us is Stephen Moore as well as CNN Global Affairs Analyst Kim Dozier joining us, CNN Military Analyst Cedric Leighton as well.

Kim, I just want to go to you on one part of this because what we had heard from the President, too, is this is about Russia, right? This is about concerns when it comes to Russia and the Arctic and that is one of the reasons that is important not just for National Security but international security which is what the President said.

There is a looming question though if concerns over Russia are so important that the United States would need to control Greenland, what about those concerns with Russia when it comes to land-based invasions in Europe? We haven't heard a lot about that certainly in the context of Ukraine. Can't all these things operate in the same ecosphere, Kim?

KIMBERLY DOZIER, CNN GLOBAL AFFAIRS ANALYST: Yes, and you heard Kaitlan ask him why are you inviting Russia to join the Board of Peace if you're afraid of them taking over Greenland. And he said something to the effect of, you know, Russia gets things done.

So, basically we're seeing that the mafia style of Donald Trump's governing where he is setting out a clear border for other tough guys but -- but he respects them doing what they do in their area, which is part of the problem that Ukraine is at. But -- but look, what we could be seeing here, regional ambassadors have been suggesting something like the Baltic or the Eastern Sentry which are NATO patrols in the Baltic, et cetera. It would be called the Arctic Sentry.

So, basically I suspect Mark Rutte and others have repackaged what the U.S. already has the right to do. It's got rights in perpetuity from 1951 to set up military bases across Greenland and to tour around its waters. So, perhaps they're just formalizing all of that and packaging it in a way that they present it to him and it sounds like a brand-new win because he doesn't know the history of the area or the kind of patrols that have already been happening historically.

KEILAR: Yes that bring -- that brings up a lot of questions here like as he's saying, Stephen, that this puts everyone in a good position when it comes to security and minerals. There is already that open- ended deal. Is he saying it's pretty far along is that because it was negotiated 75 years ago?

MOORE: No, I think what he's saying is, you know, that we're -- we're in a brand-new world right now. This isn't just about security issues and I'm not a security analyst I'm an economist, but as I was saying earlier, you know, we're -- that -- they we don't know the value of the resources in Greenland but they could be incredibly substantial over in the hundreds of hundreds of billions of dollars in terms of critical minerals, oil resources, natural gas and other things, so it's -- it's a ...

KEILAR: He said earlier he's not interested in those, but you don't believe that.

MOORE: Look, when we acquired Alaska ...

KEILAR: The rare earths.

MOORE: ... 150 years ago. Think of -- think of what an amazing thing that was for America. And so, he is thinking long-term. I think he's thinking about America's 20, 50, a hundred years from now and he thinks America would be more prosperous place in the world, be -- would be a more safe place if the United States had a larger role in Greenland.

So, that's why I said earlier, I don't think I would take -- I don't think he's taking acquiring Greenland off the table, but what he said is we're not going to make -- have a kind of military intervention to -- to make this happen.

HILL: Which he had said -- we should point out to he had said earlier this morning in his speech in Davos. He -- he basically was saying that but we're not ...

MOORE: And by the way, just -- just so people understand he also said no to the tariffs and that's one of the reasons the market has really responded, because the stock market doesn't like these -- these tariff wars and I'm breathing a sigh of relief that it looks like that's not going to happen.

HILL: And there's a chance -- you know, there's a chance that came into play because we do know that the President looks very closely follows the markets.

Colonel Leighton, if we bring you in on this, as Kim was noting in many ways this does feel like something that was repackaged perhaps negotiate -- because it was negotiated, to Brianna's point, 75 years ago with that 1951 agreement based on what we've heard from the President, him saying this gets us everything that we wanted. It's a deal everyone can be happy with. Do you see much that is in that agreement from 1951 that -- that would have needed to change to meet those -- those two parameters that he just laid out there?

COL. CEDRIC LEIGHTON (RET.), CNN MILITARY ANALYST: Not really, Erica. And one of the things that's interesting about this is, as Kim was mentioning, that 1951 agreement really gives us access to everything that we need in Greenland in terms of you know basing rights land that could be used for sites for the Golden Dome installations things of that nature.

You know, when you look at the details potentially, Erica, what you could see is that there might be some corollaries or agenda to the agreement of 1951 that might potentially be useful to for very specific things such as you know putting a missile battery at a certain location in Greenland, making sure that the water is between Greenland.

[15:30:10]