No previous US president had ever travelled to Europe after threatening to seize part of it against the wishes of its people but here he was – boastful, contemptuous – championing policies that may have already blown a hole in the North Atlantic Treaty Organisation (Nato) and changed the transatlantic alliance forever.
Donald Trump has, like no other politician before him, figured out how to turn entertainment into raw political power.
His Davos 2026 moment came after a week of withering insults and threats designed to humiliate European leaders but also to ensure that his address to the World Economic Forum (WEF) would be box office.
High-flying delegates queued for over an hour to get into the congress hall for his speech. Many were left standing.
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In the end, Trump’s speech followed a familiar pattern of boasts, half truths and entire mistruths.
He claimed that in his first year back in office he had defeated inflation (not true – it’s running at 2.7 per cent); that the US economy was booming; and that the country’s “open and dangerous” southern border had been closed.
On the event that shook global politics at the start of the year – his country’s seizure of Venezuelan president Nicolás Maduro – he said the South American country would “make more money in six months than they made in six years”.
On Greenland, a topic that has led to the worst crisis in transatlantic relations since the second World War, he appeared to pledge not to use force to take the Arctic island.
[ Trump says he does not plan to use force to acquire GreenlandOpens in new window ]
“People thought I would use force. I don’t have to use force. I don’t want to use force. I won’t use force,” he said.
The US president said he was “seeking immediate negotiations” to discuss the acquisition of Greenland, “just as we have acquired many other territories throughout our history”.
Old order ‘not coming back’ as Trump overshadows World Economic Forum
But taking military action off the table came with a threat.
“We want a piece of ice for world protection, and they won’t give it ... They have a choice. You can say yes and we will be very appreciative, or you can say no and we will remember.”
Translation: give me Greenland or I will tariff the hell out of you. He later appeared to drop that threat after agreeing a deal on the future of the island with Nato.
The whim by which he deploys his favourite weapon was illustrated when he admitted he landed Switzerland with the highest tariffs in Europe after a phone call last year with the country’s president, because “she rubbed me up the wrong way”.
He was slated to speak for 45 minutes; his speech went on for well over an hour and was unscripted.
Above all it reflected just how emboldened he has become the second time around and in the face of Europe’s seeming inability to stand up to him.
He continually lashed out at Nato in front of most members of the alliance, fanning fears that Washington is willing to jettison allies and partnerships for territorial expansion and power grabs. The Monroe doctrine revived for the 21st century.
Talk of Trump’s bid to annex Greenland has dominated Davos discussions but Nato secretary general Mark Rutte, perhaps the biggest Trump sycophant, articulated an awkward but undeniable truth earlier in the day.
While the focus is now firmly on Greenland, Europe’s real security threat is in the east, in Ukraine, where resistance is gradually being worn down. During his speech, Trump said he planned to meet Ukraine’s president Volodymyr Zelenskiy, a regular at Davos, later in the day, seemingly unaware that the Ukrainian leader had been forced to delay his trip to the WEF amid an upsurge in Russian attacks.
To an audience of global executives and political leaders, many of whom see him as the biggest threat to global stability and/or unhinged, Trump ended by saying, “I want to congratulate you. I’m with you all the way,” a sentiment that seemed to fly in the face of what they had just heard.
