Mike Baker

and NATO and the European Union.

But here we are.

As presidents, prime ministers, CEOs, and plenty of posh folks arrive in the Swiss Alps, President Trump has launched what can only be described as a full-court press on Greenland, turning a long-simmering idea into a very public, very pointed campaign.

Over the past several days, the president has escalated his rhetoric, arguing that the U.S.

is the only country capable of ensuring stability and security in Greenland.

Those comments have prompted some fairly terse responses from European officials and added fuel to an already tense diplomatic exchange.

As we've previously reported, the president has paired his messaging with tariff threats in response to European nations announcing small troop deployments onto the island.

When I say small, I mean less than a couple dozen.

And as world leaders convene in Davos, Greenland has suddenly become a centerpiece of side conversations and private meetings and diplomatic maneuvering.

They do a lot of that at Davos.

No doubt this kerfuffle is making the 56,000 residents of Greenland feel rather special.

The last time much of the world was talking about Greenland was, well, probably when Eric the Red landed on the island over a thousand years ago and decided it would be a fairly swell place for a Norse settlement.

Ahead of his arrival in Switzerland, President Trump said he had agreed to a meeting focused on Greenland, following what he described as a, quote, very good call with NATO Secretary General Mark Rutte.

And just before boarding his plane, the president summed it up this way.

It is going to be a very interesting Davos.

That's what he said.

That's how he summed it up.

Now, let's talk about the substance behind all of this, such as it is.

To date, the president's core argument for American ownership of Greenland has centered on national security.

And on that front, well, there is a serious case to be made that Greenland matters a great deal to U.S.