Watch Live: Trump addresses Davos economic forum as U.S. allies push back against Greenland takeover bid

The crowd of world leaders, business executives and others in Davos remained silent during the beginning of Mr. Trump's address to the World Economic Forum, without clapping, as he described his transformation of the U.S. federal government and relations with Europe. 

Mr. Trump spoke in a measured tone as he described the "miracle taking place," touting a long list of what he framed as his administration's economic successes.

Mr. Trump said he wanted to discuss in Davos, "how we want to raise living standards for our citizens," and how European countries could emulate the U.S., because "certain places in Europe are not even recognizable."

"I don't want to insult anybody, and I say I don't recognize it, and that's not in a positive way. That's in a very negative way. And I love Europe and I want to see Europe do good, but it's not heading in the right direction."

Mr. Trump said many Western governments had turned their back on, "everything that makes nations rich and powerful and strong."

"Quite frankly, many parts of our world are being destroyed before our very eyes, and the leaders don't even understand what's happening, and the ones that do understand aren't doing anything about it."

The president isn't expected to name a new chair of the Federal Reserve while he's in Davos, a senior Trump administration official said. 

Mr. Trump has apparently not yet decided on a candidate to replace Chairman Jerome Powell. On Tuesday, Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent told CNBC's "Squawk Box," that his "guess is the president will reach a decision maybe as soon as next week."

"We've had substantial conversations about this," Bessent said. "We've run a process that started in September — 11 very strong candidates. We're now down to four candidates. The president has personally met with all of them, and it's going to be his decision."

Mr. Trump has mentioned a couple of the leading candidates, whom he has referred to as "the two Kevins." One is director of the National Economic Council, Kevin Hassett, and the other is former Federal Reserve Governor Kevin Warsh.

Mr. Trump took the stage at Davos, addressing, "so many friends, a few enemies," he said. 

"It's a who's who, I will say that," he said. 

Mr. Trump began his speech by touting the completion of his first year in office, and a "booming" economy. He noted stock market highs, economic growth and strong 401(k) growth. 

"People are doing very well, they're very happy with me," he said, despite struggling approval numbers. 

A planned bilateral meeting between Mr. Trump and German chancellor Friedrich Merz today in Davos was cancelled due to the President's delayed arrival, a German source told the Reuters news agency.

Mr. Trump arrived in Davos, on his Marine One helicopter, to attend the World Economic Forum. His flight from the U.S. to Zurich was delayed after technical problems with Air Force One. 

He was scheduled to address the forum at 8:30 a.m. Eastern, and it was unclear whether his delayed arrival in Switzerland might force a change in that timetable. U.S. officials said previously scheduled executive time before the speech had been cancelled so that he could head straight for the international gathering.

As many as 25 countries have signed on to join President Trump's "Board of Peace" for Gaza, U.S. special envoy Steve Witkoff said Wednesday in Davos, though not all have said so publicly.

"I think we have north of 20, maybe 25 world leaders who have already accepted," Witkoff said in an interview on CNBC Wednesday.

The president envisions the group being composed of world leaders, with him as its chairman. Countries can contribute $1 billion to become permanent members, or hold three-year membership, the White House said. 

The group's formation is facing serious headwinds from U.S. allies, which could be embarrassing for the Trump administration in Davos, where the president plans to meet with the board on Thursday.

Read more here.

"Threats of tariffs to pressurize allies are completely wrong," U.K. Prime Minister Keir Starmer told the British Parliament on Wednesday. "Britain will not yield on our principles and values about the future of Greenland under threats of tariffs."

The British leader also called Mr. Trump's criticism of a U.K. deal to hand over the remote Chagos Islands in the Indian Ocean to Mauritius a U-turn intended to pressure him into accepting the president's bid for Greenland.

"President Trump deployed words on Chagos yesterday that were different from his previous words … when I met him in the White House," Starmer said. "He deployed those words with the express purpose of pressuring me and Britain in relation to my values and principles on the future of Greenland."

Under the deal the U.K. struck with Mauritius, Britain is to continue leasing back the one island of Diego Garcia for 99 years, where there is a strategic joint U.K.-U.S. military base.

European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen said Wednesday that the world had seen a "seismic" and "permanent" shift in the international order. 

"We now live in a world defined by raw power, whether economic or military, technological or geopolitical," she said. "And while many of us may not like it, we must deal with the world as it is now."

Speaking to members of the European Parliament in Strasbourg, Von der Leyen said Europe would need to abandon its "traditional caution," as the continent found itself at a crossroads: "Europe prefers dialog and solutions, but we are fully prepared to act if necessary, with unity, urgency and determination."

Von der Leyen said the EU was aligned with the U.S. in its assessment that security in the Arctic region is vital, but that, "Greenland is not just a territory in a key region of the world map, and the land rich in critical raw materials, a strategic outpost on emerging global sea routes. It's all of these things, but above all, Greenland is home to a free and sovereign people. It is a nation with its sovereignty and its right to territorial attention and the future of Greenland is only for the Greenlanders to decide."

Calling Mr. Trump's threat of tariffs for "simply wrong," she warned that, "if we are now plunging into a dangerous downward spiral between allies, this would only embolden the very adversaries we are both so committed to keeping out of the strategic landscape."

Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent dismissed the concerns of European leaders over Mr. Trump's insistence that Greenland be acquired by the U.S., telling them to "sit ‌down" and wait to hear what the president had to tell them later in the day. 

Bessent called French President Emmanuel Macron's criticism of the U.S. threats over Greenland "inflammatory" and said critics of Mr. Trump's plans should wait to hear from him.

"I will tell everyone: Take a deep breath. Do not have this reflexive anger that we've seen and this bitterness," Bessent told journalists. "Why don't they ‍sit ‌down, wait for President Trump to get here and listen to ‍his ⁠argument? Because I think they're going to be persuaded."

Bessent also dismissed concern over a potential wider sell-off of U.S. Treasury bonds, after a Danish pension fund said it would sell off its U.S. bonds due to "poor U.S. government finances."

"Denmark's investment in the U.S. Treasury bonds, like Denmark itself, is irrelevant," Bessent told journalists on the sidelines of the World Economic Forum.

President Trump has arrived in Switzerland to attend the World Economic Forum in Davos, after being delayed by a few hours due to a fault on Air Force One.

It was not immediately clear whether the delay would force a change in the timing of Mr. Trump's address to the forum, which was scheduled for 8:30 a.m. Eastern.

"We are in the midst of a rupture, not a transition," Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney said in his speech at Davos on Monday. "Great powers have begun using economic integration as weapons, tariffs as leverage, financial infrastructure as coercion, supply chains as vulnerabilities to be exploited."

"You cannot live within the lie of mutual benefit through integration, when integration becomes the source of your subordination," Carney said, making a case for "middle powers" like Canada to work together to gain leverage against "great powers," which he said have the luxury of going it alone.

"When we only negotiate bilaterally with a hegemon, we negotiate from weakness. We accept what's offered. We compete with each other to be the most accommodating," Carney said. "This is not sovereignty. It's the performance of sovereignty while accepting subordination. In a world of great power rivalry, the countries in between have a choice — compete with each other for favor, or to combine to create a third path with impact."

He called other nations to join Canada to pursue shared values, supporting Ukraine, NATO, and Danish and Greenlandic sovereignty, and warned them to "stop invoking rules-based international order as though it still functions as advertised. Call it what it is — a system of intensifying great power rivalry, where the most powerful pursue their interests, using economic integration as coercion."

"The powerful have their power," Carney said. "But we have something too — the capacity to stop pretending, to name reality, to build our strength at home and to act together. That is Canada's path. We choose it openly and confidently, and it is a path wide open to any country willing to take it with us."

His remarks drew a standing ovation.

Mr. Trump lamented again on Tuesday that he was not awarded the Nobel Peace Prize for his efforts to end conflicts around the globe. He blamed Norway's government for the Norwegian Nobel Committee's decisions, though the country's leader has stressed that the committee makes its decisions independently.

"I should have gotten the Nobel Prize for each war, but I don't say that," Mr. Trump said at the White House. "I saved millions and millions of people. And don't let anyone tell you that Norway doesn't control the shots, OK? It's in Norway."

Mr. Trump cited the Peace Prize in a text message to Norway's prime minister over the weekend, suggesting that as it was awarded to someone else, he no longer felt "an obligation to think purely of Peace," as he pursues the acquisition of Greenland. Read more about that here.

Mr. Trump was evasive when asked how far he is willing to go to acquire Greenland.  

"You'll find out," he said. The president has repeatedly declined to rule out the threat of military force to acquire the semi-autonomous region.

The president questioned whether other NATO members would come to the aid of the U.S. 

"The big fear I have with NATO is we spend tremendous amounts of money with NATO," Mr. Trump said. "And I know we'll come to their rescue, but I just really do question whether or not they'll come to ours."

Article 5 of the NATO charter says that an attack on one member of the alliance is treated as an attack on all. It has only been invoked once: in response to the 9/11 attacks, when European countries joined the U.S. in the war in Afghanistan.

Mr. Trump claimed that he has done "more for NATO than any other person alive or dead."

The president added, "NATO has to treat us fairly, too."

The president's push for Greenland is only intensifying, with Mr. Trump saying he'll impose heavy tariffs on countries that oppose his expansion plans. 

The president hasn't ruled out the use of military force to acquire the semi-autonomous territory of the Kingdom of Denmark, and NATO allies are on edge, with some deploying military forces to Greenland for exercises that they say are meant to show their commitment to strengthening collective security. 

On Tuesday, European Union Commission President Ursula von der Leyen called Mr. Trump's threat to levy tariffs on NATO allies over their stance on Greenland a "mistake" that risks sending U.S. and European relations into a "downward spiral." 

Ahead of Davos, the president posted an AI-generated image showing him planting an American flag on Greenland, alongside Vice President JD Vance and Secretary of State Marco Rubio. 

French President Emmanuel Macron joked in remarks at Davos Tuesday that it's been a "time of peace, stability and predictablilty." 

Though the French president did not mention Mr. Trump by name, he did say that last year had seen dozens of wars, and quipped, "I hear some of them have been settled" — likely a reference to Mr. Trump's frequent claim of having ended eight wars last year.

But Macron also adopted a darker tone, saying that there has been a "shift toward autocracy" and lamenting that "conflict has become normalized."

He warned, "It's as well a shift towards a world without rules, where international law is trampled underfoot, and where the only law that seems to matter is that of the strongest, and imperial ambitions are resurfacing."

Before President Trump's arrival in Davos, European leaders have been expressing strong opposition to Mr. Trump's attempts to obtain Greenland, and the president has been berating some of the European leaders he'll see there.

He called the U.K.'s decision to hand over the Chagos Islands to Mauritius — a deal his administration previously supported — an act of "great stupidity" and said it was another reason that the U.S. must control Greenland. 

He also posted a note from French President Emmanuel Macron that said, "I do not understand what you are doing on Greenland." 

Shortly after taking off for Davos Tuesday night, Air Force One turned around and returned to Joint Base Andrews in Maryland due to what the White House called "a minor electrical issue."

White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt said the flight crew made the decision to turn back out of an abundance of caution.

President Trump switched to another aircraft and departed again shortly  after midnight.