Donald Trump has said he "won't use force" to take control of Greenland as he renewed his proposal for a US takeover of the Danish territory.
Speaking at the World Economic Forum in Davos, the US President also hit out at what he slammed as "catastrophic" Britain.
"I won’t use force, I don’t want to use force...all the US is asking for is a place called Greenland. All we are asking for is to get Greenland, right, title and ownership," Mr Trump told the assembled dignitaries.
The slight tempering of rhetoric on Greenland would not have provided European politicians with relief for long, as the President launched into an attack on the state of the continent.
"The places where you come from can do much better by following what we’re doing because certain places in Europe are not even recognisable anymore," he said witheringly.
“We can argue but there’s no arguing. I don’t recognise it and that’s not in a positive way, that’s in a negative way."
"I love Europe and I want to see Europe go good, but it’s not heading in the right direction.
In a direct appeal to European countries, Mr Trump said: "You all follow us down and you'll follow us up.
Donald Trump ruled out 'using force' to take Greenland in his Davos speech
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The President then turned his attention to the UK, slamming British energy policy.
"The UK produces just one third of the total energy from all sources that it did in 1999," he said.
"They're sitting on top of the North Sea, one of the greatest reserves anywhere in the world. But they don't use it.
"That's one reason why their energy has reached catastrophically low levels with equally high prices.
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'I love Europe and I want to see Europe go good, but it’s not heading in the right direction,' Mr Trump said
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"I want Europe to be great. I want the UK to do great, they're sitting one of the greatest energy sources in the world and they don't use it," Mr Trump added.
The US President's broadside came amid tense relations with his Nato allies, who are refusing to budge on the issue of Greenland.
Hoping to prompt action, Mr Trump threatened tariffs on Europe.
In return, the European Union has suspended the ratification of the transatlantic trade deal with the US.
Bernd Lange, chair of the European Parliament’s International Trade Committee, announced the agreement that was struck at Mr Trump’s Scottish golf resort last summer was now on ice.
Mr Lange said lawmakers had been left with “no alternative but to suspend work on the two Turnberry legislative proposals”.
The German MEP said implementation efforts would remain frozen until the United States chose to “re-engage on a path of cooperation rather than confrontation”.
He accused Washington of threatening “the territorial integrity and sovereignty of an EU member state”.
Mr Lange stressed that the European Parliament had an “unshakable commitment to the sovereignty and territorial integrity of Denmark and Greenland”.
Earlier, a spat also broke out between the US and the UK over Mr Trump's volcanic intervention over the British Government's Chagos deal.
In a late-night Truth Social post on Tuesday, Mr Trump waded into the long-negotiated surrender arrangement, branding it "an act of great stupidity" undertaken "for no reason whatsoever."
He warned that America's rivals had taken note of the decision, stating: "There is no doubt that China and Russia have noticed this act of total weakness."