President Donald Trump is meeting with global business leaders at the World Economic Forum in Davos Jan. 21 to address increasing international tensions amid recent discussions by the U.S. to annex Greenland.
Trump has repeatedly argued that the U.S. needs Greenland, a self-governing territory of Denmark, for national security. The island’s location could also be strategic for a ballistic missile warning system and the president previously said it is “vital for the Golden Dome that we are building.“
Leaders of Greenland and Denmark, however, have repeatedly rebuked Trump’s claims.
“You cannot annex another country. Not even with an argument about international security,” Greenland Prime Minister Jens-Frederik Nielsen and Danish Prime Minister Mette Frederiksen said in a Dec. 22 joint statement. “Greenland belongs to the Greenlanders and the U.S. shall not take over Greenland.”
Here’s what to know:
Davos, where the World Economic Forum Annual Meeting is taking place Jan. 19-23, is a town in Switzerland. It is located in the eastern Swiss Alps, within the canton of Graubünden, and is home to Davos Klosters, a well-known skiing and snowboarding resort where the forum is taking place.
Trump will appear in Davos Jan. 21, with several other top U.S. officials, including Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent. The president is expected to deliver a special address and meet with several global business leaders to discuss tensions surrounding Greenland.
World Economic Forum organizers said more than 3,000 delegates from more than 130 countries are attending in 2026, including 64 heads of state and government, particularly from emerging economies.
The list also includes several heads of G7 nations, with changes in U.S. policy under Trump in focus.
Trump previously said that the U.S. needs Greenland for national security at a Dec. 22 news conference.
“You look up and down the coast, you have Russian and Chinese ships all over the place. We need it for national security,” he said. “We have to have it.”
The island could be a strategic location for a ballistic missile warning system and it also has critical minerals used in industries where China has a near-monopoly power, although Trump previously said he is not interested in Greenland for its mineral wealth.
Greenland is located northeast of Canada and has a population of about 57,000 people. It is slightly more than three times the size of Texas and is the largest non-continental island in the world.
Contributing: Kinsey Crowley, USA TODAY. Divya Chowdhury and Peter Thal Larsen, Reuters. Reach Marina Johnson at Marina.Johnson@courier-journal.com.