Carney says beefing up Arctic security key to solving Greenland crisis

OTTAWA – There are solutions to the crisis enveloping Greenland, Prime Minister Mark Carney said Tuesday, as global leaders at the World Economic Forum in Switzerland absorbed another escalation in U.S. President Donald Trump’s push to assert control over the Danish territory.

During his address to the forum in the ski resort town of Davos, Carney said Canada stands by the principle that sovereignty and Greenland’s territorial integrity must be upheld.

“I strongly believe that there is a better outcome that comes from the discussions that have been catalyzed in an unusual way, admittedly,” Carney said when asked if he thinks a diplomatic “off ramp” exists to blunt Trump’s desire for Greenland.

In the early morning hours of Tuesday, Trump went on a posting blitz focused on Greenland on his social media platform, Truth Social.

His posts included an AI-generated photo of him meeting in the Oval Office with European leaders and a map of the Western Hemisphere that shows American flags over Greenland, Canada, Cuba and Venezuela.

When asked Tuesday at the White House how far he is willing to go to acquire Greenland, Trump told reporters, “You’ll find out.” And when asked about Greenlanders not wanting to join the U.S., he said, “When I speak to them, I’m sure they will be thrilled.”

That followed Trump’s threat last Saturday to impose new tariffs on eight European nations for refusing to support his Greenland takeover. European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen called that threat “a mistake” Tuesday, citing Trump’s promise last year not to impose further tariffs on EU nations.

On Sunday, Carney said he is “concerned” about the U.S. ratcheting up its rhetoric on Greenland and would relay that message to Trump if he sees him in Davos. Trump will deliver a speech at the forum on Wednesday but the two leaders are not scheduled to meet.

Carney said the answer to the Greenland issue “starts with security.”

“A security, yes, of Greenland, but more broadly of the Arctic,” he said. “Canada is four-square contributing to that. We’re at the start of a major ramp-up above and beyond, so we’ll be a major contributor to that. NATO has to deliver on that. We’re working intensively in order to do it.”

Trump has repeatedly used the perceived threat from Russia and China as justification for the U.S. taking control of Greenland.

Carney said Russia poses a clear threat in the Arctic. Citing Canadian military spending in the region for things like submarines, fighter jets and over-the-horizon radar, Carney said the best defence against Russia is joint NATO investment.

“The threat is more prospective than actual at this stage in terms of actual activity in the Arctic, and we intend to keep it that way,” he said.

When asked directly about Canadian troops joining Danish sovereignty military exercises in Greenland, Foreign Affairs Minister Anita Anand said Tuesday in Davos that Canada takes part in NATO exercises regularly.

She said any additional military exercises would be up to the defence minister and the chief of the defence staff.

Anand did not name names when reporters asked her to cite the top threat facing Canada. She said the world has shifted “significantly” since her term as defence minister ended in mid-2023.

“As Canadians, we will continue to stand up for the true north strong and free, as we expect our allies, partners and all other countries to respect that sovereignty,” Anand said.

Carney did not hesitate to identify China as the biggest security threat facing Canada during a federal election debate last year.

But he was in Beijing last week to land trade agreements with President Xi Jinping to ease some agricultural tariffs and reopen the Canadian market to some Chinese electric vehicles, with conditions.

Anand told a panel Tuesday in Davos that Canada has an Arctic foreign policy and it’s time NATO had its own strategy to contain “the threat from Russia in the Arctic” in concert with Canada and Nordic states.

“NATO needs that strategy,” she said.

She also told reporters Canada’s pursuit of trade partners in Beijing and the Gulf of Arabia show Ottawa is going beyond reacting to U.S. policy shifts.

“What sets Canada apart from other countries with whom we are speaking, for example, is that we have a strategy and we’re pursuing that strategy,” she said.

U.S. Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent told the World Economic Forum Tuesday that Trump’s desire for Greenland is about national security.

“As part of NATO, I think the president is worried that if there were an incursion into Greenland, the U.S. would be called upon to defend Greenland,” he said.

Greenland and Arctic defence were key topics of Carney’s conversations with U.K. Prime Minister Keir Starmer on Monday and with French President Emmanuel Macron on Tuesday, readouts from Carney’s office said.

Macron said during his speech to the World Economic Forum on Tuesday that the U.S. is using trade agreements to weaken and subordinate Europe.

Macron said it’s unacceptable for countries to use trade as a weapon to extract territorial concessions — a nod toward Trump’s tariff threats against France and other nations.

Macron said “accepting a new colonial approach doesn’t make sense.”

The Nunavut legislature raised the Greenland flag on Tuesday as a sign of solidarity. On the weekend, dozens of people protested Trump’s threats in a show of support in Iqaluit.

This report by The Canadian Press was first published Jan. 20, 2026.

— with files from Dylan Robertson, Kelly Geraldine Malone in Washington and The Associated Press