Closing summary
This blog will be closing shortly, but you can still keep up with the latest updates coming from the World Economic Forum in Davos here.
Here is an overview of today’s key developments:
Donald Trump has stepped up his demand to annex Greenland in an extraordinary speech in Davos, but said the US would not use force to seize what he called the “big, beautiful piece of ice”. Addressing thousands of business and political leaders at the World Economic Form in the Swiss ski resort, the US president said he was “seeking immediate negotiations to once again discuss the acquisition of Greenland by the United States”.
The European parliament has formally suspended the ratification process on its US trade deal, in protest against Donald Trump’s threat to impose 10% tariffs on EU exports unless the bloc agrees he can take over Greenland. Bernd Lange, head of the European parliament trade committee, said until “the threats [on Greenland] are over there will be no possibility for compromise” on ratifying the US deal, which promised Americans a new era of 0% tariffs on many industrial exports.
At several points during his speech, Trump appeared to confuse Greenland with Iceland, claiming “Iceland” had caused a drop in stock prices on Tuesday – when markets fell as a result of his threat to impose new tariffs on eight European countries.
The US president claimed Nato has treated the US very unfairly, and “it’s time that Nato steps up” as “we are helping them with Ukraine”. He said Greenland costs Denmark “hundreds of millions a year to run it”, and while Denmark is “a small country and wonderful people, it is very expensive” for “a very big piece of ice”.
Danish foreign minister Lars Løkke Rasmussen said it’s “positive in isolation” that Trump pledged not to use force over Greenland, but it doesn’t change the fact that he seems to be determined to take control of the territory. He added that Denmark will continue diplomatic talks with the US, but it’s not negotiating or willing to compromise on its fundamental principles about territory.
Greenland’s government announced a new brochure on Wednesday offering advice to the population in the event of a “crisis” in the territory, which Trump has repeatedly vowed to seize from ally Denmark. This document is “an insurance policy”, said self-sufficiency minister Peter Borg at a press conference in Nuuk, the Greenlandic capital.
A meeting between Trump and Ukrainian president Volodymyr Zelenskyy is expected to take place tomorrow, with the US president saying on Wednesday that “we are reasonably close to deal on Ukraine”.
The European parliament voted on Wednesday to refer a freshly signed trade deal with South American bloc Mercosur to the EU’s top court, casting a veil of legal uncertainty over the accord. In a close ballot, lawmakers in Strasbourg voted 334 to 324 in favour of asking the Court of Justice of the European Union (CJEU) to determine whether the highly polarising deal, which sparked protests on the sidelines of this week’s sitting, is compatible with the bloc’s policy.
European Commission president Ursula von der Leyen reiterated that “the future of Greenland is only for the Greenlanders to decide” as she warned that Europe needs to “transform the ways in which we think and act” to step up to challenges posed by the rapidly changing world order. She said that Europe needed to realise “we now live in a world defined by raw power,” adding that “in this increasingly lawless world, Europe needs its own levers of power” and abandon its “traditional caution” to build on its economic might and become more independent.
Poland’s president Karol Nawrocki has defended his recent comments suggesting that the issue of Greenland should be primarily resolved bilaterally between Denmark and the US. Speaking in Davos, he said he “recognised some problems about Greenland,” but said he looked at it in the broader security perspective as Poland was acutely aware of the Russian threat in particular and the US played an important role “on the eastern flank of Nato.”
A major power cut affected the Danish Bornholm island after local power supplier Trefor El-Net Øst said that a submarine cable linking it with Sweden failed this morning. The island, which has nearly 40,000 residents, was cut off this morning after a reported overload, but the company insisted in comments to Danish media that there was no reason for concern.
Jakub Krupa will be back tomorrow with more coverage the latest events in Europe.
Donald Trump’s speech in Davos on Wednesday proves the EU needs to “toughen up”, Sweden’s deputy prime minister told Reuters.
The US president said he wanted immediate negotiations on a US acquisition of Greenland, which is a Danish territory.
Swedish deputy prime minister Ebba Busch said after Trump’s speech:
In many ways, [it is] not surprising.
This once again proves the EU needs to toughen up, we need to hold the line.
