DAVOS: US President Donald Trump arrives in Davos for a showdown with European leaders on Wednesday as his bid to seize Greenland threatens to tear the transatlantic alliance apart.&nbsp;Trump mocked the Europeans a day before heading to the World Economic Forum, where he will be the star of a dark, self-made drama over the fate of the autonomous Danish territory.&nbsp;But leaders gathered at the Swiss ski resort have closed ranks against Trump&#39;s aggressive stance, with French President Emmanuel Macron vowing to stand up against &quot;bullies&quot; and the EU promising an &quot;unflinching&quot; response.&nbsp;Asked how far he was prepared to go to<a href="https://www.pakistantv.com/article/eu-leaders-take-stage-in-davos-as-trump-rocks-global-order" target="_blank" style="color:#0073e6;" rel="noopener noreferrer">acquire Greenland</a>&nbsp;from Denmark, a fellow NATO member, Trump told reporters: &quot;You&#39;ll find out.&quot;&nbsp;Later, as he left the White House, the president admitted he had &quot;no idea&quot; how the trip to Davos would pan out.&nbsp;It got off to an inauspicious start when a &quot;minor electrical issue&quot; forced his presidential jet to turn back shortly after takeoff, and Trump and his entourage had to switch to another plane.&nbsp;Trump&#39;s eagerly awaited speech at the annual gathering of the world&#39;s economic and political elite, which he is attending for the first time in six years, is scheduled for 2:30 pm (1330 GMT).&nbsp;But as the biggest rift opens between Washington and Europe in decades over his Greenland ambitions, Trump said he would have a number of meetings on the issue at Davos. &lsquo;Downward spiral&rsquo;Trump insists mineral-rich Greenland is vital for US and NATO security against Russia and China as a melting Arctic opens up and the superpowers jostle for strategic advancement.&nbsp;He has turned up the pressure by&nbsp;<a href="https://www.pakistantv.com/article/trump-also-has-a-lot-to-lose-from-threatened-tariffs-french-minister" target="_blank" style="color:#0073e6;" rel="noopener noreferrer">threatening tariffs</a>&nbsp;of up to 25% on eight European countries for backing Denmark, prompting Europe to threaten countermeasures against the United States.&nbsp;Trump dismissed European threats to fire a trade &quot;bazooka&quot; at the United States.&nbsp;&quot;Anything they do with us...all I have to do is meet it, and it&#39;s going to go ricocheting backwards,&quot; he said in an interview with News Nation.&nbsp;&quot;But we&#39;re not looking into that. We&#39;ll probably be able to work something out, possibly even during the next few days,&quot; he added.&nbsp;At Davos on Tuesday, Macron, in sunglasses because of a burst blood vessel, warned against US attempts to &quot;subordinate Europe&quot;, and blasted Trump&#39;s tariff threats as &quot;unacceptable.&quot;&nbsp;Macron was the subject of Trump&#39;s mockery as he publicly revealed a text message from the French leader proposing a G7 summit in Paris on Thursday, on Greenland, as well as on&nbsp;<a href="https://www.pakistantv.com/article/macron-says-kyiv-allies-to-meet-in-paris-early-january" target="_blank" style="color:#0073e6;" rel="noopener noreferrer">Ukraine</a>.&nbsp;Trump later said he would not join any such meeting, while Macron clarified to AFP that no gathering was scheduled.&nbsp;European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen, meanwhile, warned that Trump risked plunging US ties with the European Union into a &quot;downward spiral&quot;.&nbsp;And Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney, who has sought to reduce his own country&#39;s dependence on Washington since Trump called for it to become the 51st US state, won a standing ovation at Davos for his stance.&nbsp;&quot;Canada stands firmly with Greenland and Denmark,&quot; Carney said.&nbsp;In his Davos speech, the White House said Trump wanted to focus on the US economy amid a cost-of-living crisis that threatens his Republicans in the 2026 midterms.&nbsp;But the US president&#39;s extraordinary assertion of US power on the world stage one year into his second term, means Greenland will form the backdrop to the address.&nbsp;&#39;End of NATO&#39;Greenland&#39;s prime minister said on Tuesday his tiny population of 57,000 must be prepared for military force.&nbsp;Lithuania&#39;s President Gitanas Nauseda told AFP at Davos that any such move by the United States against a fellow ally &quot;would be the end of NATO.&quot;&nbsp;Trump said he had done &quot;more for NATO than anyone&quot; and questioned whether allies would help the United States &mdash; even though Denmark was among those who did after the September 11, 2001 attacks.&nbsp;On Thursday, meanwhile, Trump is set to formally announce the first charter of his so-called &quot;Board of Peace,&quot; a body for resolving international conflicts with a $1 billion price tag for permanent membership.&nbsp;The board was originally conceived to oversee the rebuilding of Gaza, but a draft of the charter seen by AFP does not appear to limit its role to the occupied Palestinian territory.

Americas

Insists mineral-rich Greenland is vital for US and NATO security against Russia and China as a melting Arctic opens up and the superpowers jostle for strategic advancement.

Articles tagged with "Davos summit"

Trump arrives in Davos amid Greenland tensions