Donald Trump Declares He 'Won't Use Force' to Acquire Greenland After Threatening U.S. Can Take It the 'Easy Way or the Hard Way'

Donald Trump dismissed the prospect of using military force to take over Greenland.

The U.S. president, 79, made the declaration during a speech at the World Economic Forum (WEF) in Davos, Switzerland, on Wednesday, January 21.

Though Trump said the U.S. would be "unstoppable" if he did use force to seize the autonomous island territory that is part of Denmark. "But I won't do that," he conceded.

"People thought I would use force. But I don't have to use force. I don't want to use force. I won't use force," the POTUS rambled.

Trump's remarks in Davos come after he threatened to take control of Greenland "the hard way" if he's unable to make a deal to secure it "the easy way."

"We are going to do something in Greenland, whether they like it or not, because if we don’t do it, Russia or China will take over Greenland, and we’re not going to have Russia or China as a neighbor,” Trump told reporters at the White House on Friday, January 9.

Then, ahead of his WEF speech on Monday, January 19, the commander-in-chief cryptically replied, "no comment," when asked whether he would use force in his efforts.

Trump also labeled Denmark "ungrateful" during his address in a reference to world history.

"We respectfully returned it [Greenland] back to Denmark not long ago after we defeated the Germans, the Japanese, the Italians and other in World War ll," he stated. "We gave it back to them. We were a powerful force then, but we're a much more powerful force now."

"Without us, right now, you'd all be speaking German and a little Japanese, perhaps," he continued. "After the war, we gave Greenland back to Denmark. How stupid were we to do that? But we did it, but we gave it back. But how ungrateful are they now?"

Trump later wrote on social media that he'd reached "the framework of a future deal" with regards to Greenland after meeting with NATO chief Mark Rutte.

He also took back his prior statement that he would be imposing new tariffs on Denmark and other European allies until the U.S. secured Greenland — a threat that was met with backlash from other world leaders.

Both Canada's Prime Minister Mark Carney and French President Emmanuel Macron spoke out against the announcement ahead of the forum in Switzerland. The latter described the threat as "unacceptable."

Trump took aim at Carney, though, at another point during his WEF speech, telling the PM, "Canada gets a lot of freebies from us, by the way. They should be grateful also, but they’re not."

"I watched your prime minister yesterday, he wasn’t so grateful," he continued. "But they should be grateful to us, Canada....Canada lives because of the United States. Remember that, Mark, before you make your statements."