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Donald Trump has doubled down on his threats to annex Greenland, saying only the US could secure the Arctic territory, but ruled out using force.

The US president said he wanted “immediate negotiations to once again discuss the acquisition” of the mineral-rich Arctic island, which he said was not a threat to Nato but would instead “enhance” the alliance’s security.

He launched fresh attacks on European allies by calling Denmark, to which Greenland belongs, “ungrateful” after the US’s “stupid” post-Second World War decision to “give Greenland back to Denmark”.

At the World Economic Forum in the Swiss Alps, Mr Trump said: “We probably won’t get anything unless I decide to use excessive strength and force, where we would be, frankly, unstoppable.

“But I won’t do that. I don’t have to use force, I don’t want to use force, I won’t use force.”

Calling Greenland “a vast, almost entirely uninhabited and undeveloped territory sitting undefended in a key strategic location between the United States, Russia and China”, he said “no nation or group of nations is in any position to be able to secure Greenland other than the United States”.

He cited rare earth minerals sitting under the territory’s ice, but continued: “That’s not the reason we need it. We need it for strategic national security and international security.”

Mr Trump said he was “seeking immediate negotiations to once again discuss the acquisition of Greenland by the United States, just as we have acquired many other territories throughout our history, as many of the European nations have”.

He added: “This would not be a threat to Nato. This would greatly enhance the security of the alliance.”

Earlier, Sir Keir Starmer said he “will not yield” in his stance over the Arctic island in the face of Mr Trump’s demands.