President Trump speaks during a reception for business leaders at the World Economic Forum Annual Meeting in Davos, Switzerland, Wednesday.
Chip Somodevilla/Getty Images
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Chip Somodevilla/Getty Images
DAVOS, Switzerland — It was among the most volatile weeks for trans-Atlantic relations in recent history, marked by a series of disruptive statements from President Trump that unsettled global markets and strained relations with some of America’s closest allies — on topics that ranged from Greenland to Gaza.
The diplomatic whiplash was on full display in the Swiss ski resort of Davos, where the annual World Economic Forum unfolded against the backdrop of growing uncertainty about America’s role as a global leader among Western democracies. By the time President Trump’s delayed helicopter landed in the Alpine snow, much of the damage — at least diplomatically — had already been done.
In the weeks leading up to the gathering, occasionally off-the-cuff remarks from Trump and White House staff about a possible U.S. military takeover of Greenland had culminated in renewed tariff threats against eight European nations.
The unprecedented presidential rhetoric had left allies scrambling to interpret American intentions, while global financial markets responded nervously and diplomats questioned how durable long-standing U.S. commitments had become.
A candid speech from Canada
That unease was then voiced openly by several leaders in Davos. Canada’s prime minister, Mark Carney, argued that the post-World War II economic and security architecture was breaking down in ways that left middle-sized countries, like Canada, newly exposed.
“Let me be direct — we are in the midst of a rupture, not a transition,” Carney told delegates in the forum’s large congress hall. “Great powers have begun using economic integration as weapons — tariffs as leverage, financial infrastructure as coercion, supply chains as vulnerabilities to be exploited.”
Carney warned that the rules-based international order that had helped manage great-power rivalry for decades “is fading,” and that countries like his could no longer assume the United States would reliably act as the system’s stabilizing force.
French President Emmanuel Macron struck a similar note, framing the moment as one of historic political and security uncertainty. “We are reaching a time of instability, of unbalances, both from the security and defense point of view and the economic point of view,” he told the Davos audience of global policymakers and business executives.
Macron linked those imbalances to a wider democratic retreat and a resurgence of geopolitical confrontation, what he called “a shift towards a world without rules, where international law is trampled under foot, and where the only law that seems to matter is that of the strongest.” It was a characterization that, two years ago, Macron would have intended for leaders like Presidents Xi Jinping and Vladimir Putin — but for many in the audience it seemed, this week, to target President Trump too.
When the U.S. commander-in-chief appeared on that same stage a day later, he offered a sharply different interpretation, arguing that raw military and economic power — rather than verbal reassurance — was the key to maintaining security partnerships.
“We want strong allies, not seriously weakened ones. We want Europe to be strong,” Trump said, while invoking his own Scottish and German ancestry. “Ultimately, these are matters of national security, and perhaps no current issue makes the situation more clear than what’s currently going on with Greenland.”
In the same speech, Trump did appear to definitively rule out a U.S. invasion of Greenland, which is a semiautonomous territory of Denmark, a NATO ally. But he still continued to question Denmark’s stewardship of the strategically important Arctic territory. NATO Secretary-General Mark Rutte moved quickly to defuse tensions in a meeting that followed, leaving Trump to declare on social media that a deal on Arctic security — with almost no public details — had been struck. Trump also said he had backed off the new tariffs he planned to impose on goods from European countries.
Denmark’s political leadership later said Rutte did not speak on their behalf, only heightening the kind of diplomatic ambiguity that has dogged the U.S. administration’s perception, particularly in Europe.
Trump later announced on social media he was revoking an invitation for Canada to join his Board of Peace to work on stabilizing postwar Gaza and possibly other conflicts, an initiative Trump touted at Davos.
Zelenskyy calls on Europe to do more
Nonetheless, the entire episode had already deepened concerns within the NATO alliance about U.S. predictability and trust. For Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy, such concerns underscored a frustration he has voiced repeatedly since Russia’s full-scale invasion nearly four years ago.
“Europe loves to discuss the future, but avoids taking action today, action that defines what kind of future we will have,” Zelenskyy said during his own keynote speech after he arrived in Switzerland Thursday. “That is the problem.”
For the Ukrainian leader, it’s an issue not merely of strategy but credibility too, at a moment when U.S. political attention appears increasingly distracted and European governments remain occasionally leery about exercising hard power.
The week in Davos began with sharp market reactions and diplomatic shocks, and ended without clear resolution. What lingered instead was a question increasingly voiced by U.S. allies, both publicly and privately: whether the disruptions of recent days are temporary turbulence — or evidence of a more permanent shift in global leadership that they must now prepare to navigate largely on their own.
