At the World Economic Forum in Davos, President Donald Trump tried to fuse two of his favorite storylines into a single spectacle: a promise to bulldoze nuclear red tape for data centers and a renewed fixation on the icy expanse of Greenland. He vowed that permits for nuclear-powered facilities serving Big Tech’s artificial intelligence boom would be turned around in three weeks, while again rhapsodizing about Greenland’s “big ice” and strategic value. The pairing captured both the ambition and the volatility of his agenda, from the future of the grid to the future of the Arctic.
Trump’s three-week nuclear bet on Big Tech
Trump used his Davos platform to pitch an aggressive shortcut for nuclear projects that would power the next wave of data centers, telling executives that approvals should take no more than three weeks. The idea is framed as a way to solve the energy crunch facing Companies that want to build out massive server farms for artificial intelligence, which he argued are colliding with the limits of the United States’ aging grid and soaring demand from Big Tech. In his telling, the traditional process overseen by the Nuclear Regulatory Commission is a relic that slows innovation and leaves the country vulnerable in the AI race.
Energy specialists note that what Trump is proposing would be a radical departure from how the Nuclear Regulatory Commission, or NRC, has historically operated, since full reviews for new reactors have typically taken years rather than weeks. Reporting on his Davos remarks describes the plan as a sharp break with the existing safety culture, with critics warning that compressing complex environmental and security assessments into a three-week window could heighten the risk of accidents or waste mismanagement. Supporters in Silicon Valley, including executives who see AI as the central economic risk of 2026 if the United States falls behind, have nonetheless welcomed the promise of faster nuclear approvals as a way to keep data center growth on track.
AI hype, Nvidia’s “cake,” and the energy squeeze
Trump’s nuclear pledge landed in a Davos environment already saturated with AI evangelism, where Nvidia’s chief executive Jensen Huang was outlining his own vision of a five-layer “cake” of artificial intelligence infrastructure. On the same stage in Davos, Donald Trump and Jensen Huang both leaned into the idea that AI will define the next era of economic competition, with Huang describing a stack that runs from chips to cloud services and Trump insisting that Washington must clear the way for the power plants that will feed it. The convergence of those messages underscored how closely the administration is tying its energy policy to the fortunes of Nvidia and other AI leaders.
Trump has framed the nuclear fast track as a favor not just to Big Tech but to what he calls “Energy Silicon Valley,” a cluster of companies that want to pair advanced reactors with hyperscale data centers. In that narrative, three-week permits are the missing link between American chip designers, cloud platforms, and the physical infrastructure that keeps their systems running. Yet the same reporting that details his pitch to Big Tech also highlights unease among environmental advocates and some investors, who worry that sidelining traditional review processes in the name of AI could backfire if an accident or cost overrun erodes public trust in nuclear power at the very moment it is being revived as a climate tool.
Greenland as “big ice” and bargaining chip
Even as he talked up nuclear reactors, Trump kept circling back to Greenland, describing the island as “big ice” and a prize that NATO should help deliver to the United States. In public comments captured on video, President Donald Trump has doubled down on his desire to take control of Greenland, telling reporters that he thinks “we will work something out” and that NATO will be happy with whatever deal emerges. He has repeatedly emphasized the territory’s vast ice sheet and mineral potential, casting it as both a climate symbol and a strategic asset in the Arctic competition with Russia and China.
Trump’s fixation has not come out of nowhere. Earlier this week, he told interviewer Julia Manchester of The Hill that “we are going to work something out” on Greenland and stressed that he would not use force to acquire the territory, a line he has repeated in Davos while insisting that the United States has given a lot to NATO for decades. Analysts who track Arctic politics point out that Greenland, which is part of the Kingdom of Denmark, has become a focal point for shipping routes, rare earths, and missile warning systems as the ice melts. That helps explain why Trump has alternated between tariff threats and charm offensives, at one point warning of trade penalties before later canceling that threat after NATO partners agreed to a framework for future Arctic talks.
From tariff threats to a NATO “framework”
Trump’s Greenland push has unfolded in fits and starts, swinging from confrontation to what he now portrays as a diplomatic thaw. Earlier this year, he warned that he was prepared to impose tariffs on allies if they blocked his ambitions in Greenland, a stance that rattled European capitals already wary of his approach to NATO. According to accounts from Davos, Trump has since canceled that tariff threat over Greenland after saying that NATO partners agreed to a “framework” for a future Arctic deal, a shift that he presents as proof that his hardball tactics work. In his version of events, the alliance now accepts that the United States should play a dominant role in shaping Greenland’s future.
Behind the scenes, the picture is more complicated. Detailed reporting on the Greenland talks describes a loose understanding with NATO on a Greenland framework rather than any binding agreement, and it stresses that President Donald Trump has explicitly ruled out using force to acquire the territory. One analysis framed the day as starting with ice and ending with a thaw, noting that shortly after his speech at the World Economic Forum in Davos, Trump signaled a willingness to work within alliance channels instead of acting unilaterally. European policy experts caution that this “framework” is more about ongoing consultations on Arctic security than about any green light for a transfer of sovereignty, and they highlight that Greenland’s own government would have to sign off on any major change.
Allies’ skepticism and the politics of “big ice”
For many allies, Trump’s Greenland rhetoric has revived memories of earlier episodes when he floated buying the island outright, prompting both ridicule and concern. Coverage of his Davos appearance notes that Trump in Davos said NATO should allow the United States to take Greenland but that he would not use force, a formulation that left European diplomats wondering whether he was serious or simply playing to his base. In a separate summary of his remarks, Trump, identified as President Trump, is quoted as saying he wants to “get” Greenland while also insisting that he will not antagonize partners, a balancing act that some in Europe view as unconvincing given his history of public spats with allies.
Domestic critics have seized on the episode as well. One widely shared video segment framed Trump’s Greenland “Takeover” Plan May SEVERELY Backfire and promised to explain Here is Why, arguing that the focus on acquiring territory distracts from more pressing climate and security challenges in the Arctic. Another clip of President Donald Trump discussing Greenland before heading to Davos shows him predicting that NATO will be happy with a deal, even as he sidesteps questions about what Greenland’s own leaders want. Analysts at transatlantic think tanks, summarizing the Davos fallout under the banner GET up to SPEED, have warned that Trump’s approach risks turning a complex question of self-determination and climate adaptation into a transactional bargaining chip inside NATO.
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