Davos LIVE Updates: US President Donald Trump is heading to Davos for a showdown with European leaders as his bid to seize Greenland threatens to tear the transatlantic alliance apart. The US leader brutally mocked the Europeans a day before heading to the World Economic Forum, where he will star in a drama over the fate of the autonomous Danish territory. But leaders in the Swiss ski resort have closed ranks against Trump’s aggressive America First stance, with French President Emmanuel Macron vowing to stand up against “bullies” and the EU promising an “unflinching” response.
“I’m going to a beautiful place in Switzerland where I’m sure I’m very happily awaited for,” Trump said with a smile at a White House briefing to mark his first year back in power, before leaving for Davos. Asked how far he was prepared to go to acquire Greenland from Denmark, a fellow NATO member, Trump replied, “You’ll find out.”
Later, as he left the White House for his flight, the president admitted he had “no idea” how the trip to Davos would pan out.
Trump’s eagerly awaited speech at the annual gathering of the world’s economic and political elite, which he is attending for the first time in six years, is scheduled for 2:30pm (7:00 PM IST). 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.