Trump backs off force in Greenland standoff. What changed?
The Excerpt
USA TODAY
4.1 • 1.2K Ratings
🗓️ 26 January 2026
⏱️ 12 minutes
🧾️ Download transcript
Summary
After weeks of threats and escalating rhetoric, President Trump says he’s reached a framework with Denmark over Greenland — backing away from the use of force. USA TODAY White House correspondent Francesca Chambers breaks down what’s actually on the table.
Let us know what you think of this episode by sending an email to podcasts@usatoday.com.
Episode transcript available here.
See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.
Transcript
Click on a timestamp to play from that location
| 0:00.0 | After weeks of escalating threats and bluster regarding Greenland, |
| 0:09.5 | it seems that President Donald Trump has finally reached a mutual agreement with Denmark. |
| 0:14.3 | What is it and why does it matter? |
| 0:18.6 | Hello and welcome to USA Today is The Excerpt. I'm Dana Taylor. |
| 0:22.2 | Today is Monday, January 26, 2026. |
| 0:26.0 | Joining me to discuss the nitty-gritty of the New Deal is USA Today White House correspondent Francesca Chambers. |
| 0:32.7 | It's good to have you, Francesca. |
| 0:34.4 | Thanks so much. |
| 0:35.7 | I'd like to start out with a little refresher here. Why is it that Greenland |
| 0:38.6 | became such a dominant topic of conversation for Trump and his administration? What is it |
| 0:44.0 | strategic value? Well, recall that in his first term, President Donald Trump also talked about |
| 0:51.1 | his desire for the United States to acquire Greenland. |
| 0:54.5 | So this is something that he has been speaking about for quite a long time. |
| 0:59.5 | Then once he came back into office last year at the beginning of 2025, he re-raised this issue. |
| 1:05.5 | As far as strategic value goes, I mean, Greenland is situated in the Arctic between the United States |
| 1:13.6 | as well as Denmark and Russia. So it sits at a point where, as the president has argued, |
| 1:20.1 | that if there were some sort of a conflict between the United States and its NATO allies |
| 1:25.3 | against Russia or China, there would be a lot of strategic |
| 1:29.6 | value in having military bases on Greenland, where, by the way, the United States already has |
| 1:36.1 | a military base and where NATO already operates in conjunction with Denmark. But President Trump, |
| 1:43.7 | his thinking on this has been if there was any |
| 1:45.8 | other future conflict that currently he says Denmark doesn't have enough of a military presence |
... |
Please login to see the full transcript.
Disclaimer: The podcast and artwork embedded on this page are from USA TODAY, and are the property of its owner and not affiliated with or endorsed by Tapesearch.
Generated transcripts are the property of USA TODAY and are distributed freely under the Fair Use doctrine. Transcripts generated by Tapesearch are not guaranteed to be accurate.
Copyright © Tapesearch 2026.