US President Donald Trump said on Wednesday he would not deploy US military might to acquire Greenland as tensions mounted over his repeated threats to acquire the world’s largest island, by force if necessary.

His much-anticipated appearance at the World Economic Forum’s annual meeting in the Swiss town of Davos turned the normally cosy gathering of billionaires and elite pundits into one of the world’s hottest geopolitical ticket.

But Trump left little doubt he still had his eye on “our big piece of ice” that the US needed for national security and rare earth deposits.

“People thought I would use force. I don’t have to use force. I don’t want to use force. I won’t use force,” he said. “All the United States is asking for is a place called Greenland.”

In a meandering 70-minute speech, Trump also slammed Nato for “unfairly” treating the US, called Europe “not even recognisable” and touted the US economy – as he described it, the “greatest that we’ve ever had” – as a manifestation of his strong leadership.

On other fronts, he spoke about how the US is beating China in AI and how the two are in competition for cryptocurrency prowess.