It seems like the US president, Donald Trump, has had a busy evening US time with his phone in his hand.
Overnight, he:
Attacked the UK, mockingly calling it a “brilliant” ally, for “shocking” plan to hand over sovereignity of the Chagos islands to Mauritius (despite previous US support), saying it’s among a “long line” of reasons why Greenland “has to be acquired”
Leaked private text messages from France’s Emmanuel Macron and Nato’s Mark Rutte discussing his latest policy moves
Threatened France with 200% tariffs on French wine and champagne over Macron’s refusal to join the Gaza “board of peace”, said of Macron that “nobody wants him because he’s going to be out of office very soon”
Reiterated his intention of taking over Greenland as “imperative for national and world security,” saying “there can be no going back”
Posted an AI generated visual of himself planting the US flag on Greenland, saying it’s “US territory, est. 2026,” days after the US delegation agreed with Danish foreign minister for talks to be conducted behind closed doors, and not through threatening messages on social media.
It’s not even 10am in Europe.
On top of that, his treasury secretary Scott Bessent appeared to taunt the Europeans in Davos, saying they will “form the dreaded European working group first, which seems to be their most forceful weapon” before they can retaliate on trade (£), as he warned them against any moves aimed at the US administration.
As the World Economic Forum gets under way in Davos, we are going to hear from two senior EU politicians as they give us their first reactions to what’s going on.
European Commission president Ursula von der Leyen is due to speak at 10:50am CET (9:50 UK) and France’s Emmanuel Macron is on later at 2pm (1pm UK).
Meanwhile, EU foreign policy chief Kaja Kallas is also expected to address the European Parliament in Strasbourg on Greenland at 1pm CET (midday UK).
It’s going to be a busy day, again.
I will bring you all the latest updates here.
It’s Tuesday, 20 January 2026, it’s Jakub Krupa here, and this is Europe Live.
Good morning.
The backdrop to all these conversations in Davos is not just what’s happening in Greenland, but, as von der Leyen also mentioned, also the continuing and worsening situation in Ukraine.
AFP is reporting that an overnight Russian bombardment left thousands of residential buildings in Kyiv without heating and water in -14C temperatures, when the Ukrainian capital was already scrambling to restore vital utilities destroyed in earlier attacks.
“After this attack, 5,635 residential buildings are without heating,” Kyiv mayor Vitali Klitschko said on Telegram – about half the capital’s apartment blocks.
Much of Kyiv was also without running water, he added.
As a result, Ukraine’s president Volodymyr Zelenskyy suggested he would skip the ongoing World Economic Forum in Switzerland to deal with the aftermath of the strike.
But he kept open the possibility of going to the gathering of world leaders in the Swiss resort of Davos if agreements with the United States on possible postwar economic and security support were ready to be signed.
We will hear from more European leaders in Davos today.
Belgium’s prime minister Bart De Wever, of the Russia frozen assets fame, will appear alongside Croatia’s prime minister Andrej Plenković and Lithuania’s president Gitanas Nausėda on a panel at 1pm local (midday UK).
And Emmanuel Macron, the French president “nobody wants” in their club according to Trump (9:49), is due to deliver his address at 2pm (1pm UK). You could reasonably expect some fireworks there, as he will be no doubt unhappy with Trump’s comments overnight.
Separately, the EU’s foreign policy chief Kaja Kallas will speak on Greenland at the European parliament’s Strasbourg plenary at 1pm local (midday UK), too.
We won’t be short of news lines.
Obviously, I will bring you all of them here.
A fairly straightforward message from EU’s von der Leyen: in this crazy world we live in, the EU is well positioned and ready to reform as needed to respond to the “geopolitical shocks” of Trump, Russia and China, with no return to the world as it used to be (11:16).
She advanced a positive vision of how the EU could and should change to make the most of its potential and assert itself as a global power in its own right, reducing dependencies where they carry unacceptable risks, and leveraging new emerging relationship with others.
In this vein, she repeatedly took aim at Trump for his threats, stressing the EU’s commitment to “free trade over tariffs” – including with new partners globally, be it Mercosur or India – and wilingness to push for more (11:20).
(What she didn’t say, perhaps understandably, is that some of these trade mores are very much controversial and could become a real political problem down the line.)
But she also spoke about the EU’s own reformist agenda, with hints of frustration over the national bureaucracy and red tape, and the need to make it easier to invest and run business (11:25).
These lines will no doubt be popular with the Davos audience, and the sentiment behind them is shared by a growing number of EU leaders talking about the need to deregulate and simplify things after years of what some of them see as overregulation.
(Another thing she didn’t mention is the EU’s own very real political risks arising from the rise of the far-right, which could take control of some key EU capitals in the coming years, posing a clear risk to businesses thinking about expanding in the bloc. But, quite understandably, that’s not the time or place for it.)
On foreign policy, she reiterated the EU’s key lines on Ukraine, but it’s not entirely clear what’s the path forward here as the peace process – note her name-checking Trump with credit – appears to be stuck. Her declaration that the EU will be there for Ukraine for as long as it’s needed is important, but some big questions remain unanswered there.
Finally, she delivered a strong rebuke to Trump on Greenland: even as she diplomatically said she shared his security assessments, she made it very clear that threatening Denmark or Greenland is not the way forward and “the sovereignty and integrity of their territory is non negotiable.”
She called Trump’s tariff threats “a mistake” (11:31) and pointedly warned about “plunging us into a downward spiral would only aid the very adversaries we are both so committed to keeping out of the strategic landscape” (11:36). These are strong lines, but they won’t make her any more popular with Trump.
Her pledge to work on “a massive European investment surge in Greenland” is also interesting, but let’s see what it actually means. Also, there is a risk of Trump seeing that as an offensive move amid his interest in the territory.
Well, he will no doubt let us know what he made of this soon in another social media post soon.
In tougher language then perhaps before, von der Leyen says that tariffs risked “plunging us into a downward spiral would only aid the very adversaries we are both so committed to keeping out of the strategic landscape.”
She says Europe’s response will be “unflinching, united and proportional.”
She stresses “full solidarity with Greenland and the Kingdom of Denmark,” stressing “the sovereignty and integrity of their territory is non negotiable.”
She says the EU is working on “a massive European investment surge in Greenland.”
(Trump won’t like that.)
But she says Europe will work with the US and all other partners – names the UK, Canada, Norway, Iceland – on wider Arctic security.
She says:
“Finally, I believe Europe needs to adjust to the new security architecture and realities that we are now facing.
And this is why Europe is preparing its own security strategy, which we plan to publish later this year. As part of this, we are upgrading our Arctic strategy.
And at the heart of this will be the fundamental principle: it is for sovereign people to decide their own future.”
She ends by saying that security in the High North “was not the main theme” when she started working on this speech, but it shows how much can change in a short period of time – and why Europe needs to push for its independence to be able to respond accordingly.
She ends:
“The point is that the world has changed permanently. We need to change with it.”
Von der Leyen now turns to Greenland.
She says that “when it comes to the security of the Arctic region, Europe is fully committed,” and it shares the US focus on securing the region.
But she pointedly says that the bloc has the capabilities required, and the security “can only be achieved together.”
She then criticises Trump directly:
This is why the proposed additional tariffs are a mistake especially between longstanding allies. The EU and US have agreed to a trade deal last July. And in politics as in business – a deal is a deal. And when friends shake hands, it must mean something.
Von der Leyen says Europe “needs an urgency mindset” to face the challenges it’s facing, in all areas: from energy to AI and defence. She says the EU has done more on defence “in the last years than in decades before.”
She needs “this need for ambition is most important when it comes to the security of our continent.”
She turns to Ukraine, and criticises Russia for continuing attacks on Ukraine, as she says Moscow shows “no sign of abating, … remorse, … seeking peace.”
“On the contrary: Russia is intensifying its attacks, killing civilians every day. Just last week, its bombing of Ukraine’s energy infrastructure left millions facing darkness, cold, and water shortages. This must end.”
She says we “all want peace for Ukraine,” and she recognises Trump’s “role in pushing the peace process forward.”
She says the EU’s recent decisions on funding Ukraine “reaffirm Europe’s unwavering commitment to the security, the defence and the European future of Ukraine.”
She says Europe “will always stand with Ukraine until there is a just and lasting peace.”
EU’s von der Leyen is now going through main points on her reformist agenda in the EU, talking about the need to attract investment and tighten the EU single market.
One proposal is to create “a new truly European company structure” – called “EU Inc” – with “a single and simple set of rules that will apply seamlessly all over the union,” and one that can be registered online within 48 hours.
(I can think of some questions about how this would work in practice, though.)
She says:
“Ultimately, we need a system where companies can do business and raise financing seamlessly across Europe – just as easily as in uniform markets like the US or China.
If we get this right – and if we move fast enough – this will not only help EU companies grow. But it will attract investment from across the world.”
She also talks about a number of more technical issues: on investment and capital, energy market, and resilience.
I’m sure my colleagues over on the business blog will look at some of these things in more detail:
Von der Leyen is continuing with her speech.
She says “this new Europe is already emerging,” pointing to the recent signing of the EU-Mercosur trade agreement, completed after a quarter of a century of negotiations, which created the largest free trade zone in the world.
“This agreement sends a powerful message to the world that we are choosing fair trade over tariffs, partnership over isolation, sustainability over exploitation. And that we are serious about de-risking our economies and diversifying our supply chains,” she says in what reads as a thinly veiled swipe at Trump after his most recent tariff threats.
Von der Leyen says the EU is also advancing talks with other markets, including India, which she claims “some call … the mother of all deals” (huh?), which would create a free market of two billion people.
“From Latin America to the Indo Pacific and far beyond, Europe will always choose the world. And the world is ready to choose Europe,” she says.
European Commission president Ursula von der Leyen has warned business leaders to let go of “nostalgia” about the past, telling them that it “will not bring back the old order,” and urging them to focus on building a more independent Europe instead.
Opening her speech in Davos, said the EU had to use the “geopolitical shocks” – that’s this week’s polite codeword for Trump, as well as the rise of assertive China and Russia – to “build a new form of European independence.”
She insisted the EU “acted immediately” to respond to the new challenge, and “whether on energy or raw materials, defence or digital – we are moving fast.”
In a particularly striking passage, she said:
“But the truth is also that we will only be able to capitalise on this opportunity if we recognise that this change is permanent.
Of course, nostalgia is part of the human story.
But nostalgia will not bring back the old order. And playing for time – and hoping for things to revert soon – will not fix the structural dependencies we have.
So my point is: If this change is permanent, then Europe must change permanently too. It is time to seize this opportunity and build a new independent Europe.”
European Commission president Ursula von der Leyen is about to take the stage at Davos to speak about Europe’s take on the latest events.
I will bring you the key lines here.
You can watch along here:
Russian foreign minister Sergei Lavrov claimed that Greenland was not “a natural part” of Denmark in comments that could further fuel the increasingly contentious debate about the territory’s future.
At a conference in Russia, Lavrov spoke of “crisis tendencies” within the west, with Greenland the latest example of that, as it’s causing unprecedented tensions even within Nato.
He said Russia was monitoring the “serious geopolitical situation” around Greenland.
While he insisted that Russia was not interested in interfering in Greenland affairs and that Washington knows that Russia has no plans to capture Greenland, he said that in his view Greenland was not a natural part of Denmark, Reuters reported.
Speaking more broadly, Lavrov also warned that it was “unlikely” that Russia could strike agreements with the current group of leaders in Europe.
Here is a bit more on Bessent’s comments that I mentioned in the opening post (9:49), from my colleagues, Graeme Weardenin Davos andJulia Kollewe.
The US treasury secretary, Scott Bessent, has urged European countries not to retaliate against the US’s trade tariffs announced over the Greenland crisis.
Speaking in Davos, during the World Economic Forum, Bessent said countries and companies should pause and “let things play out” after Trump threatened a 25% tariff on a slew of European countries in his pursuit of the autonomous Danish territory.
As global stock markets fell amid political uncertainty, Bessent indicated that retaliatory tariffs would be unwise, citing last year’s tit-for-tat tariff war that broke out between the US and China.
Last April, Trump’s “liberation day” tariff announcement caused turmoil in global stock markets before some countries agree trade deals and markets recovered to reach record highs later in the year, fuelled in part by the AI boom.
Bessent told a press conference at the annual meeting of global leaders: “I would say this is the same kind of hysteria that we heard on 2 April. There was a panic.”
Bessent said: “What I am urging everyone here to do is sit back, take a deep breath, and let things play out. The worst thing countries can do is escalate against the United States.
“What President Trump is threatening on Greenland is very different than the other trade deals. So I would urge all countries to stick with their trade deals. We have agreed on them, and it does provide great certainty.”
Bessent said he did not believe that European countries will retaliate against the US over the Greenland crisis by selling their holdings of America’s debt.
Bessent claimed that predictions that Europe could stop lending to the US, and dump its holdings of US treasuries, was a “false narrative” that defied logic.
Bessent accused the media of having “latched on” to a report from Deutsche Bank on the issue, and of being “hysterical”.
“I think it is a completely false narrative. It defies any logic, and I could not disagree more strongly,” he added.
The UK has now responded to Trump’s fierce criticism of the Chagos deal – a significant departure from the previous US backing for the agreement – defending it as critical for UK’s national security.
It said “we acted because the base on Diego Garcia was under threat after court decisions undermined our position and would have prevented it operating as intended in future”.
The government’s statement also pointedly reminded everyone that the deal “has been publicly welcomed by the US”.
Andrew Sparrow has more on this – including other domestic reactions from Nigel Farage and Kemi Badenoch – over on the UK blog.
The Guardian
About the Author
