WATCH LIVE: President Trump Addresses Davos

He’s killing it. President Trump is addressing the World Economic Forum, the exclusive annual gathering of world leaders, policymakers and business figures in Davos, Switzerland.

WATCH: President Trump Delivers a Special Address to the World Economic Forum

CBS: 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.

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 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.

Economy:

“The United States is in the midst of the fastest and most dramatic economic turnaround in country’s history.”

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.

Core inflation last 3 months: 1.6%

Q4 GDP projected: +5.4%

Trump: “Far greater than anyone other than myself predicted.”

Trump on the burgeoning US economy in Davos ‘Instead of hiring bureaucrats we’re firing them”

In 12 months, the Trump administration has removed 270K+ bureaucrats from the payroll, cut federal spending by $100B, slashed the federal budget deficit by 27%, cut 129 regulations for every ONE new regulation approved, passed the largest tax cuts in history, and so much more.

Tariffs:

Live blogging highlights:

“The USA is the economic engine of the planet, and when America booms, the entire world booms.

History shows that when America goes bad, the whole world goes bad.

When we go down, you follow us down. When we go up, you follow us up”

“I ended eight wars … and without trade and tariffs you wouldn’t have been able to end any of them … But they’ve brought hundreds of billions of dollars pouring into the United States Treasury…”

On Europe:

“Frankly, many parts of our world are being destroyed and the leaders don’t even UNDERSTAND what’s happening! And the ones that DO understand won’t do

“Certain places in Europe are not even recognizable anymore. 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 go good. But it’s not heading in the right direction.”

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.”

On Crytpo:

“I’m also working to ensure America remains the Crypto Capital of the World… Congress is working very hard on Crypto market structure legislation, which I hope to sign very soon, unlocking new pathways for Americans to reach financial freedom.”

On windmills:

President Trump calld out the “stupid people” who support wind energy in Davos

“China is smart. They make windmills, sell ’em for a fortune, and sell ’em to the STUPID PEOPLE that buy them!”

Trump said, China builds them, sells them but they don’t use them. They don’t use windmill energy.

“Windmills all over Europe, all over the place, and they are LOSERS. One thing I’ve learned: the more windmills a country has, the more money that country LOSES. CHINA makes almost all the windmills, and yet I haven’t been able to find any wind farms in China!”

“The greatest HOAX in history, the Green New Scam. Windmills, destroy your land! Every time that goes around you lose $1,000. You’re supposed to MAKE money with energy, not LOSE money!”

Trump lauds his tariffs and says Venezuela will do “fantastically well”

Trump says his tariffs have enabled U.S. to “radically reduce our ballooning trade deficit”

The president touted his administration’s trade agreements with other countries, including European nations, Japan and South Korea, and said they “raise growth and cause stock markets to boom, not only in the U.S., but in virtually every country that came to make a deal. Because as you’ve learned, when the United States goes up, you follow.”

He said Venezuela has “got problems, but we’re helping them,” claiming that after the U.S. operation to capture former Venezuelan leader Nicolas Maduro, Venezuela will “be making more money than they’ve made in a long time. Venezuela is going to do fantastically well.”

“The attack ended and they said: ‘let’s make a deal,” Mr. Trump said.

Greenland:

Greenland is a vast, almost entirely uninhabited and undeveloped territory. It is sitting undefended in a key strategic location between the U.S., Russia, and China.

This enormous unsecured island is actually part of North America — on the northern frontier of the Western Hemisphere.

It is a core national security interest of the U.S. — and in fact, has been our policy for hundreds of years to prevent outside threats from entering our hemisphere.

Donald J. Trump said that no country—and no alliance of countries—has the capacity to defend Greenland except the United States, arguing that the island’s security is inseparable from America’s own.

Speaking to a crowd, Trump opened with a light moment—joking about whether he should address Greenland—before turning serious. He said he holds “tremendous respect” for the people of Greenland and Denmark, but stressed that every NATO ally must be capable of defending its territory, something Greenland cannot do on its own.

Trump warned that the world is far more dangerous than it was in the past, citing advanced missile systems, nuclear threats, and emerging weapons “I can’t even talk about,” and argued that Greenland’s vulnerability makes it a strategic liability.

He rejected claims that U.S. interest in Greenland is about rare earth minerals, insisting instead that geography and security are decisive. Greenland, he said, is “an enormous, unsecured island” on the northern frontier of the Western Hemisphere—effectively part of North America—and therefore falls within America’s strategic responsibility.

“This isn’t about resources,” Trump made clear. “It’s about security.”

“This would not be a threat to NATO – this would greatly enhance the security of the entire alliance.”

“You need the ownership to defend it,” the president said. “You can’t defend it on a lease. Number one, legally it’s not defensible in that way, totally. And psychologically, who the hell wants to defend a license agreement or a lease?”

“All we want from Denmark for national and international security and to keep our very energetic and dangerous potential enemies at bay is this land on which we’re going to build the greatest golden dome ever built,” he said, referring to his plans for a missile defense system.

He then lashed out at Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney, saying the U.S. would use ownership of Greenland to defend the neighboring country.

“Canada gets a lot of freebies from us, by the way. They should be grateful, but they’re not. I watched your prime minister yesterday. He wasn’t so grateful.”

Trump to Carney: “Canada lives because of us. Mark, remember that before you make those speeches.”

NATO:

President Trump says the US gives “so much” to NATO and gets “so little” in return.

Trump has said the US annexation of Greenland would “greatly enhance the security” of NATO.

He said the US was “treated very unfairly by NATO”.

“We give so much and we get so little in return,” he said.

Trump says NATO has never given America anything and now he’s calling in the debt.

“The problem with NATO is that we’ll be there for them, 100%, but I’m not sure they’ll be there for us,” Mr. Trump said. “They’re not there for us on Iceland [Greenland],” the president said, “I can tell you, our stock market took the first dip yesterday because of Iceland [Greenland].”

Mr. Trump said the U.S. had “never asked for anything else” apart from Greenland.

“You can say yes and we’ll be very appreciative, or you can say no and we will remember. A strong and secure America means a strong NATO, and that’s one reason why I’m working every day to ensure our military is very powerful, our borders are very strong, and above all our economy is strong, because national security requires economic security and economic prosperity.”

On credit card interest rates:

“The profit margin for credit card companies now exceeds 50%, and they charge Americans interest rates of 28%… So, to help our citizens recover from the Biden disaster… I’m asking Congress to cap credit card interest rates at 10% for one year.”

AUTHOR

Pamela Geller

EDITORS NOTE: This Geller Report is republished with permission. ©All rights reserved.