Good morning. News continues to pour out of Davos, Switzerland. President Trump hosted a “Board of Peace” signing with nearly two dozen countries, none of them western European. (At the signing, he said some of the signees were “very popular leaders” and in “some cases not so popular.”) Experts say the board is a direct competitor to the United Nations — and the latest example of Trump’s attempt to build a new world order, with himself at the center. And yesterday, Trump took world leaders at the World Economic Forum on a roller coaster. He started the day by threatening economic warfare if he didn’t get his way on Greenland. By the evening, he said he had reached a deal with NATO to avoid that. European leaders are meeting today to discuss next steps. I’d like to start with the whiplash.
Taking DavosCould the United States end up in possession of Greenland? After Trump gave a combative speech yesterday in Davos, Switzerland — at a forum that’s meant to foster global collaboration — it certainly seemed possible. Trump told the audience of world leaders, billionaires and other elites that he would not send troops to seize Greenland from Denmark — but said he would take it all the same, threatening anyone who stood in his way. “You can say yes and we will be very appreciative,” Trump said, “or you can say no and we will remember.” The threats — punishing tariffs chief among them — had an almost immediate effect. Just hours after the speech, Trump met with Mark Rutte, the leader of NATO, and afterward said they had devised a “framework of a future deal with respect to Greenland and, in fact, the entire Arctic Region.” Now he needn’t impose tariffs on allies who refused to heed to his demands for control of Greenland, he said. The announcement followed a NATO meeting yesterday in which top military officers from the alliance’s member states discussed a compromise in which Denmark would give the United States sovereignty over small pockets of Greenlandic land, The Times reported. The United States could build military bases on them. (Britain has a similar arrangement with its bases in Cyprus.) Is that the framework of the deal Trump announced? NATO said in a statement that “negotiations between Denmark, Greenland and the United States will go forward aimed at ensuring that Russia and China never gain a foothold — economically or militarily — in Greenland.” A CNN reporter asked Trump if the deal he was pursuing would result in U.S. ownership of Greenland. Trump hesitated before replying. “It’s a long-term deal. It’s the ultimate long-term deal,” he said. How long? “Infinite. There is no time limit. It’s a deal that’s forever.”
The reviewsTrump has said that the United States needs Greenland for its natural resources, for its national security and to contain Russia’s and China’s global ambitions. In an interview with The Times, he also cited a “psychological” need to possess the island. Yesterday, though, he focused on national security. Europeans in general have been unmoved by those desires. Reactions to Trump’s speech yesterday seemed to depend on nationality and profession, wrote Zolan Kanno-Youngs, a White House correspondent who reported from Davos: European leaders sat stunned as Mr. Trump insulted their governments and questioned their reliability as allies. Others grimaced as Mr. Trump claimed the European nations and Canada owed the United States a debt. Some even scrambled after the speech to find and question current and former U.S. officials about the president’s thinking and the future of the United States as a trustworthy partner. As my colleague Evan Gorelick said, “It’s a confusing time to be a European leader.” The head of the Danish Parliament’s defense committee reflected that view. “I’m glad he’s ruling out military force,” he said. “He insists he wants Greenland, but that’s not new. Of course, we still insist that we are not handing over Greenland.” But corporate executives in the audience had a very different reaction, Zolan found. At a reception after the speech for financial titans who in past years have been at the center of the conversation in Davos, Trump received a warm welcome. “We got great reviews,” Trump told them. “I can’t believe it, but we got good reviews of that speech. Usually they say he’s a horrible dictator-type person, but sometimes you need a dictator.” Soon after, when Trump backed down from tariff threats, stocks surged. More from Davos
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