European leaders, rattled by Donald Trump’s latest global gambit, are looking to present a united front in Davos, as CEOs warned against an emotional response to the US president’s ambition to take over Greenland.
French President Emmanuel Macron said the European Union should not bend to “the law of the strongest”, adding that it was “crazy” that the bloc was having to contemplate using its “anti-coercion instrument” against the US.
“We do believe that we need more growth, we need more stability in this world, but we do prefer respect to bullies,” Macron told the World Economic Forum’s annual meeting yesterday, the day before Trump’s arrival in Switzerland.
Without referring directly to Trump, European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen highlighted a need to respond to seismic shifts in the world and said the speed and scale of change had driven a consensus in Europe on independence.
“It is time to seize this opportunity and build a new independent Europe,” she said in a speech.
Belgium’s Prime Minister Bart De Wever said the 27-member bloc was “at a crossroads” where it must decide on how to get out of a “very bad position” after trying to appease Trump to get his support for the Ukraine war.
“So we should unite and we should say to Donald Trump … ‘You’re crossing red lines here.’ We either stand together or we will stand divided,” De Wever said on a panel discussion.
Swedish Deputy Prime Minister Ebba Busch told Reuters that attempts to win over Trump with flattery, as some European leaders have tried in the past, would not work.
“Stroking the cat along the line of its fur is not going to do the trick this time. The EU needs to toughen up and hold the line,” she said, adding that the bloc needed to keep options for trade retaliation “locked and loaded”.
Trump announced tariffs on Saturday on imports from European allies that oppose the US acquiring Greenland, an autonomous territory of Denmark.
European governments, which are facing growing challenges from populist, nationalist parties, have been at odds over how to respond to the tariff threat while maintaining US support for Ukraine.
Macron said Europe should not accept a world where might makes right and called for bold moves to defend European industries.
“Let’s not be shy. Let’s not be divided. Let’s not accept a global order, which will be divided by those who claim to have the bigger voice,” Macron said.
Macron also appeared to see an opportunity for Europe in Trump’s chaotic policies.
“We have a place where the rule of law and predictability is still the rule of the game, and my guess is that it is under-priced by the market,” he said in his speech.
However, some senior bankers and executives in Davos, who spoke on condition of anonymity, said they saw the response from European leaders to Trump’s moves as emotional rather than pragmatic.
Two suggested the continent needed to look beyond the way the US president delivers his message and have a negotiation.
“But they won’t even want to have that conversation, because they’re so offended by the style. And so what you have in Europe is a very, very, delicate balance of a continent that cannot move together,” one senior banker told Reuters.
European countries say Trump’s threat of new tariffs would violate a trade deal reached with the US last year, and EU leaders are set to discuss possible retaliation at an emergency summit in Brussels tomorrow.
US Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent, however, voiced confidence that the US and European countries would find a solution and avoid what some have warned could become a prolonged trade war.
“Why are we jumping there? Why are you taking it to the worst case? Calm down the hysteria. Take a deep breath,” he said.
Meanwhile, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy said he was ready to join other global leaders in Davos, but only if the US was ready to sign documents on security guarantees for Ukraine and a post-war prosperity plan.
“Ukraine is ready for meetings – if those meetings are actually effective,” he wrote on X.
His comments came as CEOs, including finance industry executives, are expected to meet today to discuss post-war reconstruction, a source familiar with the matter said.
But any decisions were unlikely, the source told Reuters, adding: “You need peace in order to reconstruct the place.”
Zelenskiy urged the US to pile more pressure on Russia after its latest massive air attack on Ukraine cut heating to half of the capital and affected substations the United Nations’ atomic watchdog said are vital for nuclear safety.
