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The Guardian - US
The Guardian - US
World
Robert Tait

US treasury secretary cuts awkward figure as Trump’s diplomatic defender

a man in a suit speaks
Scott Bessent speaks at the US House during the annual meeting of the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland, on Wednesday. Photograph: Markus Schreiber/AP

Scott Bessent has gained a reputation as one of Donald Trump’s suavest enablers but his dismissal of Denmark as “irrelevant” is likely to earn him a place in the annals of infamy rather than diplomacy.

The US treasury secretary’s tactless put-down of a Nato ally has come as the annual World Economic Forum at Davos has cast him into the international limelight at the very moment when Trump is upping the ante to take over Greenland, which is Danish sovereign territory.

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