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As world leaders gather in Davos, Switzerland for unity against economic headwinds and geopolitical uncertainties, U.S. President Donald Trump's speech on Wednesday risks further hollowing out the very multilateral structures the World Economic Forum was built to defend.

Delivered to a room full of global leaders already wary of his unpredictability, he doubled down on tariffs, Greenland saber-rattling, and "America First" bravado that ignores the interconnected realities of modern trade and geopolitics.

In his speech, Trump boasted about slashing the trade deficit by 77 percent through tariffs. This ignored the mounting evidence of harm to American families – households face $3,800 in annual losses from inflated imports, according to The Budget Lab at Yale University. In the Davos context where governments, businesses and civil societies have long favored open borders for capital and goods, Trump is brazenly advocating strategic protectionism.

The danger lies not in the way Trump tends to treat economic relationships as zero‑sum. An address that celebrates tearing up agreements without offering predictable alternatives will unsettle investors and economies that depend on stable rules. If Davos is meant to reassure the world that the rules‑based system still has a future, a speech heavy on unilateralism and light on shared frameworks will do the opposite.

Trump's Davos speech also functions as a foreign‑policy signal. A familiar pattern: chastising NATO members for underspending, questioning the value of security guarantees, and hinting that allies are "taking advantage" of American protection. Delivered in Davos, it sends a chill through European capitals already wondering how reliable Washington really is.

Trump reiterated his push for U.S. control of Greenland, calling it vital for national security and criticizing Denmark as too weak to defend it. He even branded Denmark as "ungrateful" and insisted only America can secure Greenland, tying the ploy to NATO burdens and Arctic resources.

While Trump argued his desire for Greenland was not about rare earths but about location – "All we want from Denmark for national and international security and to keep our very energetic and dangerous potential enemies at bay," his obsession with the Arctic territory is imperial delusion, evoking colonial land grabs unfit for 2026. This imperial fantasy disregards sovereignty and international norms.

Earlier, Danish and Greenlandic leaders had rejected the overtures outright, viewing them as colonial relics. "What is crucial for us is that we get to end this with respect for the integrity and sovereignty of the kingdom (of Denmark) and the right of the Greenlandic people to self-determination," Reuters quoted Denmark's Foreign Minister Lars Lokke Rasmussen as saying.

True, Trump is dropping plans to add tariffs on eight European countries for their Greenland stance and has also ruled out using "excessive force" to occupy the territory, but whether the businessman-turned-politician is again playing the old trick of "tariffs" and "force" as a bargaining chip at the negotiating table is still waiting to be seen.

After all, Trump, just hours after his Davos speech, touted on social media the "very productive" meeting with the NATO Secretary-General Mark Rutte over the "framework for a future deal". "I think it puts everybody in a really good position, especially as it pertains to security and minerals and everything else," Trump told broadcaster NSBC.

Attention – he mentioned "minerals." The President talked about "location" to justify his desire for Greenland in the speech, but rare earths have turned out to be the reason. "They're going to be involved in mineral rights and so are we," Trump said.

As a businessman-turned politician, Trump has a history of making escalating threats, exerting maximum pressure at the negotiating table, walking back from the threats, and reaching a deal. These maneuvers are all for the purpose of his "America First" isolationism, where tariffs punish partners and territorial grabs test alliances. However Trump's Greenland story will end, America's weakening leadership is for sure.

At Davos, meant for cooperative solutions, Trump's rhetoric alienated attendees focused on shared challenges like climate and growth. World leaders gather in Davos for unity, but Trump's speech offered little more than self-congratulation and selective storytelling at the venue built for dialogue that never came.

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