DAVOS, Switzerland, Jan 21 (Reuters) - After weeks of rhetoric that risked the deepest rupture in transatlantic relations in decades, U.S. President Donald Trump abruptly stepped back on Wednesday from threats to impose tariffs as leverage to seize Greenland, and said a deal was in sight to end the dispute.
"We have formed the framework of a future deal with respect to Greenland and, in fact, the entire Arctic Region," Trump wrote on his Truth Social platform. "Based upon this understanding, I will not be imposing the Tariffs that were scheduled to go into effect on February 1st."
Trump made the comments after ruling out taking the Danish territory by force in a speech at the World Economic Forum annual meeting in Davos, Switzerland, meeting with NATO Secretary General Mark Rutte and acknowledging financial markets' discomfort with his threats.
Trump said he had tasked Vice President JD Vance, Secretary of State Marco Rubio, and special envoy Steve Witkoff to take part in the discussions and would make more information available "as discussions progress."
"People thought I would use force, but I don't have to use force," Trump said earlier in his speech at the Swiss Alpine resort. "I don't want to use force. I won't use force," he added.
The change in posture on tariffs sparked a stock market rally, with the S&P 500 index up over 1.5%. That added to the market's recovery after the sharpest equities selloff in three months.
NATO allies have been unnerved by Trump's increasing threats to seize the territory from Denmark, which is a longtime U.S. NATO ally.
But in his year in office, Trump has also repeatedly made severe threats that spooked markets, only to water them down or withdraw them completely.
(Reporting by Steve Holland in Davos and Trevor Hunnicutt in Washington; Additional reporting by Dave Graham, Ariane Luthi, Dmitry Zhdannikov, Mark John, Terje Solsvik, Soren Jeppesen and Tom Little; Editing by Colleen Jenkins, Toby Chopra and Rod Nickel)
