The great Davos divorce: America's allies draw red line with Trump
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DAVOS, Switzerland — America's closest allies declared an end to the U.S.-led global order on Tuesday, concluding that President Trump's relentless coercion had exposed its fatal flaws.
Why it matters: Gone are the days of world leaders tiptoeing around Trump, whose first year in office — capped by a crisis over Greenland — has crystallized fears that the old order cannot be salvaged.
- "Being a happy vassal is one thing. Being a miserable slave is something else," Belgian Prime Minister Bart De Wever said of Trump's threats to impose tariffs over Greenland. "If you back down now, you will lose your dignity."
- The unusually blunt rhetoric echoed across the World Economic Forum, where Trump will arrive Wednesday to a summit already gripped by diplomatic tension and market anxiety.
Zoom in: European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen likened Trump's hostility toward allies to the "Nixon shock" of 1971 — the moment the U.S. upended the postwar economic order by abandoning the gold standard.
- She called for "permanent" independence from the U.S., warning that waiting for a post-Trump return to normal would only deepen Europe's vulnerability.
- French President Emmanuel Macron condemned Trump's "endless accumulation of new tariffs" as "fundamentally unacceptable," especially when used as "leverage against territorial sovereignty."
Zoom out: Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney delivered the most blunt verdict of all, telling the Davos audience, "Let me be clear: We are in the midst of a rupture, not a transition."
- "We knew the story of the international rules-based order was partially false. That the strongest would exempt themselves when convenient. That trade rules were enforced asymmetrically. ... That international law applied with varying rigor depending on the identity of the accused or the victim," Carney said.
- "This fiction was useful," he continued, because American hegemony supplied global public goods — from open sea-lanes to a stable financial system.
"This bargain no longer works," Carney declared, warning that "great powers" are now weaponizing the economic integration that has long underpinned globalization.
- A Canadian official told Axios that Carney deliberately avoided naming the U.S. or Trump, but that his remarks were aimed squarely at the president's recent actions.
- The prime minister, a former central banker, was met with a standing ovation from the Davos crowd as he concluded his address.
Between the lines: A former U.S. official close to many European leaders told Axios that Trump's recent push on Greenland "has crossed a red line for the Europeans for the first time" — and that many believe this may be their last chance to push back.
- The EU is weighing a package of €93 billion (about $109 billion) in retaliatory tariffs, and Macron said the bloc "should not hesitate" to deploy its anti-coercion instrument — a powerful trade tool originally designed to counter China's economic pressure.
- "This is crazy. I do regret that," Macron said of applying it to the United States. "But this is a consequence of unpredictability and useless aggressivity."
The rupture is also visible on issues beyond Greenland and trade.
- Hungary is the only European country that has joined Trump's newly announced "Board of Peace," underscoring the extent to which trust has eroded — and how reluctant allies now are to legitimize his initiatives.
- So far, the board has drawn support from the leaders of Albania, Belarus, Qatar, Bahrain, the United Arab Emirates and Morocco.
What to watch: Trump announced Tuesday morning that he plans to meet with NATO Secretary-General Mark Rutte and other parties to discuss Greenland — but many of the most relevant leaders will not be in the room.
- Denmark's prime minister chose to skip Davos altogether, and Macron departed Switzerland on Tuesday without meeting Trump.
- It's unclear whether the leaders of Germany or the U.K. will participate in the Rutte meeting.
- It comes amid a growing European military deployment to Greenland, and as the island's prime minister warned his people to prepare themselves for invasion.
In the meantime, Trump envoys Steve Witkoff and Jared Kushner met with Russian President Vladimir Putin adviser Kirill Dmitriev at the "USA House" in Davos on Tuesday evening to discuss the Ukraine peace process.
- European officials have repeatedly warned at Davos that Russia has shown no genuine interest in moving toward peace.
- Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky does not currently plan to travel to Switzerland, following a massive Russian attack that has left parts of Ukraine facing water and electricity shortages amid a brutal winter.
The bottom line: "There's no point in being soft anymore," Belgium's De Wever said. "If someone says, 'I want to take NATO territory from you, or else I'll start a trade war,' then we will start a trade war."
