President Donald Trump is showing the world that “the United States is back,” Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent told CNBC, as tensions rise over the president’s candidacy. acquire Greenland.
Asked about the president’s agenda at the World Economic Forum in Davosin Switzerland, where Trump is scheduled to deliver a speech Wednesday, Bessent said: “The United States is back, and this is what American leadership looks like.”
Tensions are high at the meeting after Trump raised the stakes over his plans to acquire the self-governing Danish territory, which shook the NATO military alliance. Overnight, he announced 200% tariffs on French wine and champagne and said the UK was showing “total weakness” by ceding sovereignty of the Chagos Islands to Mauritius.
Meanwhile, Denmark sent more troops to Greenland for a military exercise.
Bessent said U.S. control of Greenland was “important,” adding: “It will end any kind of kinetic warfare, so why not get ahead of the problem before it starts?”
Bessent told CNBC that European countries should contribute their “fair share” to defense. “While Europeans were building schools and having health care, we were defending the world,” he said.
Trump has repeatedly said taking control of Greenland is vital to U.S. national security, frequently citing his concerns about Russian and Chinese influence in the Arctic.
“The formidable European working group”The “free riding” of the pharmaceutical industryThe cost of medicines in the United States was also on the agenda for Bessent, who described European countries as “free riders” when it comes to drug prices.
In December, nine of the biggest pharmaceutical companies signed agreements to lower their prices in the United States with the aim of corresponding to those overseas. “The idea here is equalization over time, the American consumer and our health care will pay less and the Europeans will have to pay more, they have been free riders.”
Bessent said he held a meeting with the G7 as well as Mexico, India, South Korea and Australia last week to “avoid China’s strangulation on minerals.” Minerals are used in a wide range of industries and products, from electric vehicles to defense and China controlled more than two-thirds of rare earth mining production in 2024.
— CNBC’s Evelyn Cheng and Sam Meredith contributed to this report.
