Fact-checking Donald Trump’s Davos speech

President Trump made a series of controversial claims in a freewheeling speech to world leaders at the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland.

Trump talked about his desire to acquire Greenland from Denmark, which he called a “small request,” U.S. contributions to NATO and Chinese wind energy.

His speech lasted for more than an hour and contained a number of false claims, which BBC verify has been following.

For weeks, Trump has been vocal about his desire to acquire Greenland, a largely autonomous territory of Denmark. He said it was critical to U.S. national security.

In Davos, he said “we handed Greenland back to Denmark” after the Second World War, adding: “How stupid were we to do that?”

But this is not America’s return.

In 1933, the International Court of Justice (the predecessor of the International Court of Justice (ICJ)) ruled: Greenland belongs to Denmark.

In 1941, following Denmark’s surrender to Germany the previous year, U.S. and Danish representatives signed an agreement that allowed the U.S. to defend Greenland and prevent the Nazis from occupying it.

This led to the United States building a base on the island and the deployment of U.S. troops..

However, the agreement did not involve a transfer of sovereignty, meaning Greenland never became US territory.

The US president criticized NATO and claimed that “the United States pays almost 100% for NATO.”

“They used to pay 2 percent, now they pay 5 percent,” he said of the level of contributions from members of the military alliance.

None of these statements are correct.

recent years U.S. defense spending Accounting for approximately 70% of the total expenditures of NATO countries.

In 2024, this will fall to 65% and by 2025, it is expected to reach 62%, as for the first time all NATO members will spend at least 2% of their GDP on defence.

The U.S. president has gotten these countries to commit to increasing defense spending, but the 5 percent Trump said is a long-term goal – Achieved by 2035.

Currently, no NATO member spends that much, and even Poland, a country that spends most of its GDP on defense, is expected to spend just under 4.5% by 2025.

Trump claimed that the United States “never got anything from NATO” and “we never asked for anything.”

this NATO website Pointing out that “collective defense is the most basic principle of NATO”, Article 5 of its founding treaty stipulates that “an armed attack against one NATO member state shall be considered an attack against all NATO member states.”

The United States is the only member of the alliance to invoke Article 5, doing so in the wake of the 9/11 attacks.

NATO countries subsequently provided troops and military equipment to the U.S.-led war in Afghanistan.

Denmark has one of the highest per capita casualty rates among U.S. allies. They were deployed primarily with British forces in Helmand Province into hotly contested areas.

Trump has also criticized wind energy – a familiar target that he says is part of the “new green scam.”

He singled out China, claiming that while China manufactures a large number of wind turbines, he “can’t find any wind farms in China.”

China has one of the world’s largest wind farms in Gansu, which can be seen from space.

China generates more wind energy than any other country According to our world of data. Its statistics show that China’s wind power generation capacity in 2024 will be 997 terawatt hours.

That’s more than double that of the second-ranked United States.

President Trump also singled out Britain and criticized its energy policies.

When talking about North Sea oil, Trump mistakenly said: “They (Britain) make it impossible for oil companies to leave, they take 92% of the revenue.”

Oil and gas companies operating in the North Sea pay 30% corporation tax on their profits, with a supplementary rate of 10% on top of this. This is higher than the 25% corporate tax paid by other large companies.

In November 2024, the government increased the windfall profits tax for oil and gas companies from 35% to 38%.

This brings total tax on North Sea oil companies to 78%, which is paid on profits rather than income.

The windfall profits tax introduced by the Conservatives in 2022 to tackle rising energy bills is due to expire in 2030.

President Trump also talked about the investments his administration has secured for the United States.

“We have secured a record $18 trillion in commitments,” he said, before repeating that “$18 trillion has been invested.”

He has made similar claims before – in October he said the US had attracted $17 trillion (£12.7 trillion) worth of investment – but there was no public evidence to support such a large figure.

White House website, Last updated in Novemberwhich aims to track “new investments in U.S. manufacturing, technology, and infrastructure.” Investment under Trump totaled $9.6 trillion (£7.1 trillion), the report said.

The largest amount on the list is the United Arab Emirates’ (UAE) $1.4 trillion (£1 trillion) investment in manufacturing and industry.

The website of the UAE Embassy in Washington states that the UAE is “working with the Trump administration to make a historic $1.4 trillion investment in the United States over the next decade.”

Greg Auclair, a statistician at the Peterson Institute for International Economics, told BBC Verify that the White House tracker “includes promises that may not be met – for example, the EU trade deal now appears to be frozen due to tensions over Greenland”.

On Wednesday, the European Parliament’s International Trade Committee said: Suspension of ratification of the agreement “Until the United States decides to return to the path of cooperation rather than confrontation.”

Auclair added that while foreign investment in the United States has increased over the past year, “it will take several years for the results of the Trump administration’s investment push to be felt.”

Reporting by Tom Eddington, Lucy Gilder, Matt Murphy, Nicholas Barrett and Anthony Reuben.