The World Economic Forum in Davos has become the main stage of the extremely serious a geopolitical crisis shaking the world, as major powers pursue their own interests over shared rules and moral principles, fueling fears that confrontation will rapidly intensify.
From Davos, U.S. President Donald Trump lashed out at Europe on Wednesday. “Certain places in Europe are not even recognisable frankly anymore,” he said. Trump believes these European countries “are not going in the right direction” and have turned their backs on “everything that makes nations strong.”
Trump’s aspiration to take control of Greenland has put Europe on high alert. From Davos, Trump began by saying that “every NATO ally has an obligation to be able to defend their own territory.” He then put forward an argument for why he believes he should control Greenland, the semi-autonomous island that is part of the Kingdom of Denmark: “The fact is no nation or group of nations is in any position to be able to secure Greenland other than U.S.”
Trump, who on previous occasions has made it clear that he wanted to annex Greenland by fair means or foul, said on Wednesday that he does not want to use force. “I won’t use force. All the United States is asking for is a place called Greenland […] What I’m just asking for is a piece of ice. […] It’s a very small ask, compared to what we have given them for many, many decades,” he concluded. Europe, according to the president of NATO’s most powerful country, has two options: “You can say yes, and we’ll be very appreciative, or you can say no and we will remember.”
After recalling that the gigantic Arctic island is located in a key strategic position “between Russia and China,” he insisted on his idea, arguing that the U.S. needs Greenland for “strategic national security and international security.”
In his speech from the Swiss city, Trump continued attacking leaders and countries that he believes have adopted misguided policies: “Parts of our world are being destroyed before our very eyes and the leaders are doing nothing about it.”
“I want Europe to do great, I want the U.K. to do great,” he said while criticizing that London “has one of the greatest reserves anywhere in the world, but they don’t use it,” referring to the oil fields in the North Sea.
On Tuesday, Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney led the resistance to the Trumpist onslaught, with a speech of moral and geopolitical stature. French President Emmanuel Macron was also explicit in rejecting U.S. maneuvers. The president of the European Commission, Ursula von der Leyen, also spoke, expressing opposition to U.S. annexationist ambitions over Greenland and to the threat of new tariffs on European countries that defend their sovereignty, though in a less forceful tone.
Von der Leyen herself, along with NATO Secretary-General Mark Rutte are emerging as key figures in diplomatic efforts to defuse the crisis over Greenland. It’s a crisis with far-reaching geopolitical implications, including for Ukraine. Kyiv now sees its already fragile U.S. support — kept alive by intense diplomatic efforts and multiple European concessions to Trump — as definitively at risk.
The crisis also extends to the dramatic situation in the Gaza Strip, with Trump determined to set up a Board of Peace, which many former Western allies are unwilling to join, both because of its structure and because of Trump’s increasingly heavy-handed foreign policy.
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