As tensions escalate between the United States and its European allies, French President Emmanuel Macron has taken a strong stance against what he calls the “new colonial approach” of President Donald Trump. Just hours before Trump is set to arrive at the World Economic Forum in Davos, Macron has warned that the EU should not bend to the “law of the strongest” and should resist Trump’s demands.
The unprecedented breakdown in relations between the US and its Western European allies comes as Trump has doubled down on his push for Denmark’s sovereign territory of Greenland, even going so far as to reveal private text messages he has received from Macron and other world leaders. Macron has made it clear that the EU will not be cowed, saying “we prefer respect to bullies, we prefer science to conspiracies, and we prefer the rule of law to brutality.”
The crisis has proven to be the biggest strain on the special relationship between the UK and the US since the 1960s, with Trump lashing out at Prime Minister Keir Starmer’s “stupid” deal to cede the Chagos Islands to Mauritius. However, Starmer’s closest lieutenant, Chancellor of the Duchy of Lancaster Darren Jones, insists that Starmer’s approach to Trump is yielding results, though he admits “it’s not normal for geopolitical discussions to be handled in this way.”
As anger grows in Switzerland ahead of Trump’s arrival, EU leaders have made it clear that they will deploy the toughest economic response possible to the US president’s threat of tariffs. Macron has called for the EU to use its “big bazooka” of economic countermeasures, while European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen has warned that the EU’s response “will be unflinching, united and proportional.”
Meanwhile, members of the Trump administration already in Davos have been unapologetic about their tearing up of international rules and norms. In a frosty moment on a panel with UK Chancellor Rachel Reeves, Trump’s commerce secretary Howard Lutnick said he was at the event to make the point that “globalisation has failed the West.” However, Lutnick later tried to reassure Reeves that the US still loves its allies, saying “We love you, we do,” to which Reeves responded, “Thank you very much, the feeling is mutual.”
As the standoff continues, European leaders have made it clear that they will not back down in the face of Trump’s bullying tactics. Macron has urged the EU to stand firm, saying “we prefer respect to bullies,” and the bloc has vowed to use all of its economic might to respond to any US aggression. The future of the transatlantic alliance hangs in the balance as the two sides prepare for a showdown in Davos.
