THE WASHINGTON POST: Trump jabs European leaders over Greenland as Davos becomes emergency summit

President Donald Trump’s demands to take over Greenland, reiterated in an overnight barrage of social media posts, are transforming this week’s annual gathering of the global elite into an emergency diplomatic summit, as European leaders prepared to use the President’s arrival here Wednesday to de-escalate the spiralling crisis.

Europe may not have a home-field advantage in Davos. The United States is seeking to dominate this year’s World Economic Forum by sending its largest and most senior delegation in history. Meetings with senior Trump officials are among the most sought-after engagements in town as European leaders, already reeling from US tariff policies, find themselves once again navigating a ruptured relationship with the White House.

Over mulled wine and canapés, early-arriving guests tried to predict whether Mr Trump’s visit would aggravate or avert the simmering conflict with Denmark, the NATO ally that controls Greenland. But 4,000 miles away from the parties in this Swiss Alps ski town, Mr Trump went on an overnight social media tear that signalled little interest in reconciliation. He bashed Britain for handing over sovereignty of an island colony in the Indian Ocean and shared what appeared to be private messages from European officials.

French President Emmanuel Macron, in one text, told Trump that they are aligned on Syria and Iran, but he does “not understand what you are doing on Greenland.” Mr Macron also offered to set up a Group of Seven meeting after the Davos forum. The authenticity of the message was confirmed by a French official close to Macron who spoke on the condition of anonymity to discuss sensitive diplomacy.

In his posts, Mr Trump also disparaged Britain for “planning to give away” the island of Diego Garcia, the site of a US military base and the largest of the Chagos Islands. Britain in 2024 said it would cede sovereignty over the archipelago to Mauritius, with the US and Britain retaining operational control over the base.

“The UK giving away extremely important land is an act of GREAT STUPIDITY, and is another in a very long line of National Security reasons why Greenland has to be acquired,” Mr Trump wrote, adding that “China and Russia have noticed this act of total weakness.”

In response, the UK government said it would “never compromise on our national security” and noted that the decision had been publicly supported by the US and other allies. “This deal secures the operations of the joint US-UK base on Diego Garcia for generations, with robust provisions for keeping its unique capabilities intact and our adversaries out,” the government said.

Mr Trump also shared digitally altered images that illustrated his expansionist designs, including one that portrayed European leaders gathered in the Oval Office around a map with the American flag covering Greenland, Canada and Venezuela.

Defusing the tension is only one of the options that Europeans are considering. The other is harder pushback, and possibly retaliation, against Mr Trump’s imposition of new tariffs on nations that oppose his desire for “complete and total control” of Greenland.

Leaders on Tuesday were arriving to a Davos already transformed by Mr Trump and his allies.

USA House, celebrating the 250th anniversary of the United States’ founding, now occupies storefronts on the town’s main promenade that in past years were used by tech companies to promote their latest artificial intelligence software. The main USA House venue is a 19th-century church, its sanctuary lit with red and blue lights, where Cabinet secretaries and ambassadors will speak all week to an audience sipping coffee from cups emblazoned with the American flag and an eagle.

The display of American power, here and on the geopolitical stage, has made Mr Trump an inescapable topic at an event historically known for billion-dollar dealmaking, expensive parties and wonky panels about multilateralism and free trade. It also reflects how he has upended the global order in the first year of his second term, captivating and alarming world leaders with his unpredictable, personality-driven style of governing that leaves little room for dissent.

“The message is ‘America First’ does not mean America alone,” Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent told reporters outside the USA House on Monday afternoon. Mr Bessent declined to say whether Mr Trump hopes to avert the crisis over Greenland. “Everyone should take the president at his word,” he said.

European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen on Tuesday morning criticized Mr Trump for violating a trade deal reached last year to avert a tariff war by threatening to impose punitive levies on countries that oppose his takeover of Greenland. Ms von der Leyen vowed an “unflinching united and proportional response.”

“Nostalgia will not bring back the old order,” Ms von der Leyen said Tuesday. “If this change is permanent, then Europe must change permanently too. It’s time to seize this opportunity and build a new independent Europe.”

Finnish President Alexander Stubb said others are seeking an off-ramp from the dispute that would result in stronger Arctic security - an outcome that could satisfy one of Mr Trump’s stated reasons for wanting Greenland.

“We’ll probably be somewhere between the two before this is defused,” Mr Stubb said during an interview Monday with Washington Post columnist David Ignatius. “And I of course hope that we can defuse the rather complicated situation here in Davos.”

The tension among NATO allies may create opportunity for Russia, which has not been invited to the World Economic Forum since its full-scale invasion of Ukraine in 2022. But this year, Kirill Dmitriev, Russian President Vladimir Putin’s confidant and the Kremlin’s top negotiator on Mr Trump’s proposal to stop the war, is in Davos, where he is expected to meet the White House envoy Steve Witkoff and Mr Trump’s son-in-law Jared Kushner, Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said.

Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov appeared to stoke the tensions between NATO allies on Tuesday morning, saying Greenland is not a “natural part of Denmark” and warning that Iceland, a NATO member, could be taken next. Mr Lavrov said Russia and China have no plans to “seize” Greenland, undermining one of Mr Trump’s rationales for taking Greenland, which he says is needed for national security reasons.

Pushback to Mr Trump’s Greenland threats have widened beyond political leaders. Senior members of the Catholic Church including Pope Leo XIV, the first American pontiff, have also voiced concern about the resurgence in the threats of military force and the archbishop for military services, Timothy P. Broglio, has said that US soldiers may have a moral obligation to disobey if they are ordered to invade Greenland.

From the snowy streets of Davos, California Governor Gavin Newsom, who is considered a potential 2028 Democratic presidential contender, issued a stark warning to world leaders who might consider capitulating to Trump.

“(Trump is) a T. Rex,” Newsom said. “You mate with him or he devours you, one or the other, and you need to stand up to it … They need to stand tall, stand firm, stand united.”

Shortly after his scheduled arrival Wednesday, Mr Trump is expected to address an audience of billionaire executives and foreign leaders. The next morning, he will convene a charter-signing ceremony with other world leaders who agree to join his “Board of Peace,” an initiative he announced last week as an international peace-building organization that would charge countries $US1 billion for permanent membership, according to a person familiar with the matter, speaking on the condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to speak publicly.

The US is expected to send five Cabinet officials - including Secretary of State Marco Rubio and Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick - as well as Kushner, Witkoff and fellow adviser Josh Gruenbaum, who are focused on the Board of Peace.

While some world leaders have indicated plans to join the organization, others are still weighing the decision, partly out of concern that it could usurp the mission of the United Nations.

Early Tuesday morning, Mr Trump posted on social media that he had a “very good” phone call with Mark Rutte, secretary general of NATO, concerning Greenland.

“I agreed to a meeting of the various parties in Davos, Switzerland,” Mr Trump wrote. “As I expressed to everyone, very plainly, Greenland is imperative for National and World Security. There can be no going back - On that, everyone agrees!”

Mr Trump is the first President since Bill Clinton to attend Davos. Before this week, he was looking to use his speech to reaffirm his commitment to housing affordability, a clear attempt to lean into his “America First” platform at a time when his foreign policy gambits are causing consternation among domestic supporters struggling with the cost of housing and groceries.

A White House official on Monday said affordability will remain a chief focus of the address. He is expected to “emphasize that the United States and Europe must leave behind economic stagnation and the policies that caused it,” said the official, who spoke on the condition of anonymity to preview the speech.

Davos is an unlikely backdrop for an affordability pitch. Trump will be making that case from a centre of global wealth, where participants make deals on ski lifts and let loose at a piano bar run by a cybersecurity company. Davos, for 51 weeks each year, is a quiet resort town defined by skiing and hiking. This week, as one businessman said over gyros, it is like “Epcot meets the United Nations.”

Companies and foreign delegations have taken over the city centre, with nearly every downtown storefront occupied by companies such as Meta and Palantir. Countries including Nigeria, Saudi Arabia and Belgium have also set up shop, decorating commercial spaces with flags and inviting potential investors inside.

At the USA House on Sunday, staffers served cheeseburgers and steak tartare. Podcasters chatted with State Department officials. Keith Krach, the former DocuSign CEO, previewed work from a new organization commissioned by the Trump administration to commemorate America’s 250th birthday. Sarah B. Rogers, the undersecretary of state for public diplomacy, discussed her efforts to build relationships around the globe.

And even with tensions looming, all of it amounted to the hottest ticket in town - a distinction reserved in previous years for such private-sector luminaries as OpenAI CEO Sam Altman. By Monday, there was a line on the ice-covered sidewalk to enter the USA House.

© 2026 , The Washington Post