Howard Lutnick, President Donald Trump's Commerce secretary, refused to answer specific questions about the United States' quest for Greenland when he was confronted at the World Economic Forum in Davos.
During a Tuesday panel, historian Adam Tooze asked Lutnick to explain how countries outside the U.S. were supposed to view the drive to take over Greenland from Denmark.
Lutnick responded by dodging the question: "The Trump administration and myself, we are here to make a very clear point. Globalization has failed the West and the United States of America. Globalization. It's a failed policy."
"And what we are here to say is that America first is a different model, one that we encourage other countries to consider, which is that our workers come first," he continued. "We can have policies that impact our workers. Sovereignty is your borders. You're entitled to have borders."
"And so that is a different way of thinking. It is completely different than the WEF."
"Can I bring you back to Greenland?" Tooze pressed.
"No," Lutnick snapped as the panel chuckled. "It's unnecessary. It's — it's — the Western Hemisphere is vital for the United States of America. Our national security people are on it, and they care about it. And I'm going to leave it to them to address with our allies, with our friends, and with everyone how they work it out."
"Right," Tooze replied incredulously. "The rest of us, I think, are finding it harder to make that kind of separation clearly."
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