US President Donald Trump addressed a gathering of the elite at the World Economic Forum (WEF) in Davos, Switzerland, on Wednesday for more than an hour, and surprised everyone with his decision to roll back any tariffs on European countries that were to be levied from February as a leverage to gain Greenland.
Instead, Trump said a new framework with NATO on Arctic security had been created, which would be an “infinite deal”. This came shortly after he said that the US would not use force to pursue control of Greenland, sending US stock markets soaring. However, he reaffirmed his ambition to secure “right, title and ownership” of Greenland, urging NATO allies not to stand in the way.
“It’s a deal that’s forever,” he said, when asked how long the deal will last, adding, “It’s what’s called an infinite deal.”
As he departed the WEF venue for the day, Trump said his newly agreed-upon framework of a deal with NATO’s secretary general, Mark Rutte, is “a great deal for everybody.” “The deal is going to be put out pretty soon,” he said in a brief exchange with reporters on the sidelines of the forum. “It gets us everything we needed to get.”
He said “everyone would be happy with the deal”, and although his people were still working out the details, he emphasised it would be “really fantastic for the USA.”
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Trump’s tariff threats against EU countries that resist his takeover of Greenland had created a furor last week, with European Commission President, Ursula von der Leyen, saying on Tuesday that Trump’s planned new tariffs on eight EU countries over Greenland are a “mistake” and questioned his trustworthiness.
French President, Emmanuel Macron, did not mince words when criticising Trump’s idea, saying said the EU could retaliate by deploying one of its most powerful economic tools, known colloquially as a trade “bazooka.”
Sweden’s deputy PM, Ebba Busch, said she heard “a mix of irrational and rational arguments at the same time” from Trump, and warned the EU block to “toughen up”.
“Europe needs to toughen up. We need to hold the line,” she told reporters in Davos, adding, “We will not be bullied or blackmailed into letting go of territory that is, in this case, Greenland’s and Denmark’s.”
The three US stock market equities rebounded after Trump called off Greenland-related tariffs that he had threatened to impose on Europe. The S and P 500 rallied 1.2 per cent Wednesday, the index recovering about half the ground it lost a day earlier. The Dow Jones Industrial Average also rose 1.2 per cent, as did the Nasdaq composite. Treasury yields eased in the bond market.
A number of US officials also heaved a sigh of relief at Trump’s latest decision, having been concerned that the President’s fixation on Greenland was distracting from and complicating his effort to form the Board of Peace, which is supposed to be announced on Thursday in Davos, to oversee the Gaza ceasefire operation.
Meanwhile, Trump declined to name a reasonable price for the United States to buy Greenland during a meeting with Rutte.
“There’s a bigger price, and that’s the price of safety and security and national security and international security having to do with many of your countries,” he responded when asked how he would calculate a reasonable offer for the strategic land mass. “That’s really the price. It’s a big price.”
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