U.S. allies brace for showdown

DAVOS, Switzerland (AFP) — United States President Donald Trump descends on Davos for a showdown with European leaders Wednesday as his bid to seize Greenland threatens to tear the transatlantic alliance apart.

Trump — whose arrival in Davos was delayed when a “minor electrical issue” forced his presidential jet to turn back shortly after takeoff — mocked the Europeans a day before heading to the World Economic Forum over the fate of the autonomous Danish territory.

But leaders gathered at the Swiss ski resort have closed ranks against Trump’s aggressive stance, with French President Emmanuel Macron vowing to stand against “bullies.”

The united stand drew a rebuke from Trump’s Treasury chief Scott Bessent, who told Europeans to “take a deep breath.”

“Do not have this reflexive anger that we’ve seen and this bitterness,” Bessent told reporters in Davos hours before Trump’s arrival.

“Why don’t they sit down, wait for President Trump to get here and listen to his argument,” he said.

Trump, who was originally scheduled to give a speech to the annual gathering of the world’s economic and political elite at 2:30 p.m., will be about three hours late to Davos, Bessent said, after the president was forced to switch planes.

Trump said he would have a number of meetings on Greenland at Davos, as his designs on the vast island open the biggest rift between Washington and Europe in decades.

Asked how far he was prepared to go to acquire Greenland from Denmark, a fellow North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) member, Trump told reporters: “You’ll find out.”

As he left the White House, the president admitted he had “no idea” how the trip to Davos would pan out.

‘Rupture’

Trump insists mineral-rich Greenland is vital for US and NATO security against Russia and China as a melting Arctic opens up and the superpowers jostle for strategic advancement.

He has turned up the pressure by threatening tariffs of up to 25 percent on eight European countries for backing Denmark, prompting Europe to threaten countermeasures against the US.

Trump dismissed European threats to fire a trade “bazooka” at the US.

“Anything they do with us... all I have to do is meet it and it’s going to go ricocheting backward,” he said in an interview with News Nation.

“But we’re not looking into that. We’ll probably be able to work something out, possibly even during the next few days,” he added.

At Davos on Tuesday, Macron warned against US attempts to “subordinate Europe,” and blasted Trump’s tariff threats as “unacceptable.”