5 winners from Trump's Greenland climbdown
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President Trump speaks to reporters at the World Economic Forum in Davos on Wednesday. Photo: Laurent Gillieron/AFP via Getty Images
DAVOS, Switzerland — A four-day Greenland crisis that roiled global markets, endangered the transatlantic alliance and dominated Davos ended Wednesday the same way it began: with a post on Truth Social.
Why it matters: Details remain thin on President Trump's "framework of a future deal" with NATO, but the immediate crisis appears defused in a way that allows virtually every party to claim a win — or at least take a breath.
1. Trump — whose speech at the World Economic Forum drew such demand that a stampede nearly broke out at the doors — claimed the Greenland deal gives the U.S. "everything we needed."
- Even with concessions falling far short of total control, Trump can tout the "Art of the Deal" to his base and retreat from an issue that polls even worse than his handling of the Epstein files.
- The "Trump Always Chickens Out" (TACO) mockery popularized on Wall Street may sting, but the president's MAGA machine is already moving to sell the deal as a total victory.
2. For Denmark and Greenland, the most acute and explosive threat was removed when Trump ruled out the use of military force.
- The preliminary framework Trump discussed with NATO chief Mark Rutte also includes a commitment to respect Denmark's sovereignty over Greenland, two sources briefed on the proposal told Axios.
- The longer-term objective — strengthening Arctic security and limiting Chinese and Russian influence — is a strategic interest shared by the U.S., Denmark and their allies.
3. Europe avoided a potentially catastrophic trade war, stood united against Trump's threats and used the crisis to accelerate plans to reduce its dependence on the U.S. It's not alone moving that way, either.
- Canada's Prime Minister Mark Carney was the surprise star of Davos, drawing a standing ovation and extensive media coverage for his blunt diagnosis of a "rupture" in the U.S.-led order.
4. Markets flexed their muscle as a meaningful constraint on Trump's behavior, with the president acknowledging onstage that plummeting stocks had "cost us a lot of money."
- As Trump's tariff threat evaporated, the stock market surged and long-term bond yields fell.
5. Even Davos itself emerged with its relevance renewed, having served as the stage where a true geopolitical crisis was tested, negotiated and pulled back from the brink.
- The oft-caricatured conference remains a factory of buzzwords, but this year's theme — "The Spirit of Dialogue" — proved oddly prophetic.
The bottom line: The Greenland crisis has eased for now, but the volatile new era it represents is here to stay.
