At the World Economic Forum in Davos, a rare show of unity emerged among US allies as European and Canadian leaders openly pushed back against President Donald Trump’s renewed bid to assert control over Greenland. The confrontation, unfolding just ahead of Trump’s arrival in Switzerland, underscored what many leaders described as a decisive break from the old US-led global order.
French President Emmanuel Macron struck an unusually blunt tone, warning that Europe should not submit to “the law of the strongest.” Speaking to delegates, he said the European Union preferred “respect to bullies” and the rule of law over coercion, signalling that Brussels was prepared to defend Denmark’s sovereignty over the Arctic island.
European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen echoed the sentiment, saying the pace of global change had convinced Europe to pursue greater independence. “It is time to build a new independent Europe,” she said, without naming Trump directly.
Belgium’s Prime Minister Bart De Wever went further, arguing that attempts to appease Washington had left Europe in a “very bad position.” Warning against backing down, he said unity was essential if the bloc was to preserve its dignity in the face of tariff threats linked to Greenland.
The sharpest diagnosis came from Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney, who declared that the rules-based international system was facing a “rupture, not a transition.” He argued that great powers increasingly use economic leverage as coercion and cautioned that middle powers could no longer assume compliance would guarantee safety. “If we’re not at the table, we’re on the menu,” Carney said.
In response to the escalating tensions, EU leaders plan to hold an emergency summit in Brussels, with the possibility of reviving tariffs on US goods and even deploying the bloc’s powerful Anti-Coercion Instrument.
Trump’s Greenland gambit has strained ties across the Atlantic, rattled markets, and exposed widening cracks within NATO marking Davos 2026 as a turning point in transatlantic relations.
