AFP USA

US President Donald Trump marked the first anniversary of his return to the White House on Tuesday with a rambling, often downbeat news conference that leaned heavily on familiar grievances rather than celebration.The 79-year-old brandished a folder in front of reporters that he said listed 365 achievements since he was sworn in on January 20 last year.”God is very proud of the work I have done,” he declared.However, in a monologue that went on for more than hour before he took questions from reporters, Trump complained that he wasn’t getting credit. He insulted and swore at opponents, and continued to spread conspiracy theories — including his false claim that he won the 2020 election that he lost to Democrat Joe Biden.Amid dire ratings — averaging at about 55 percent disapproval, 42 percent approval — and deep discontent over high prices, Trump said he deserved more appreciation.”Maybe I have bad public relations people, but we’re not getting it,” he said, also blaming “fake news.”Trump was headed hours later to Davos to join world political and business leaders. He signaled that his speech there Wednesday will defend his aggressive moves on Greenland, which is part of US ally Denmark.”We need it for national security,” he said. “Things are going to work out pretty well.”But when asked how far he was willing to go to act on his threats to take over the vast island, he retorted: “You’ll find out.”He rejected an idea floated by French President Emmanuel Macron for an emergency meeting of the G7 powers. “No,” he said about attending. “I wouldn’t do that.”- Hardly a victory lap -Delivered in a subdued tone, the address opened with Trump praising his crackdown by military-style agents on illegal immigration. Trump showed off mugshots of criminals he said had been apprehended in Minnesota, where a protester was shot dead this month by one of the agents.He touted the US military raid to seize Venezuela’s socialist president Nicolas Maduro and was unapologetic about his insistence that Washington will somehow take control of Greenland.But as Trump lurched from subject to subject, the address felt less like a victory lap than a reprise of last year’s campaign to defeat then vice president Kamala Harris and win his second term.The president repeated a series of claims long disputed or debunked, including that his 2020 election loss was “rigged,” that prescription drug prices had fallen by 600 percent — a mathematical impossibility — and that the United States had attracted $18 trillion in inward investment.On foreign affairs, the Republican signaled an interest in working with Venezuelan opposition leader Maria Corina Machado on the country’s future, following Washington’s January 3 military operation that removed Nicolás Maduro from power.”We’re talking to her,” Trump said. “Maybe we can get her involved in some way. I’d love to be able to do that.”He praised Machado for giving him her Nobel Peace Prize medal, complaining again that the Norwegian committee should have honored him instead.He also gave support to Syrian President Ahmed al-Sharaa, who launched an offensive against Washington’s erstwhile Kurdish allies.Trump said the Syrian leader was “working very, very hard” and a “choir boy” could not handle the situation in that country.Democratic Senator Chuck Schumer reacted scathingly to Trump’s anniversary performance. “He only grows more crazy and more unpopular.”

US President Donald Trump marked the first anniversary of his return to the White House on Tuesday with a rambling, often downbeat news conference that leaned heavily on familiar grievances rather than celebration.Opening with a lengthy critique of illegal immigration, Trump launched into a monologue covering a wide range of subjects — from US military action in Venezuela and welfare fraud by Somali immigrants in Minnesota to repeated attacks on his predecessor, Joe Biden.As Trump lurched from subject to subject, the address felt less like a victory lap than a reprise of the campaign that preceded his return to office. This included his false claim — unprecedented for US presidents — to have won the election which he lost to Biden in 2020.”We’ve done more than any other administration has done, by far, in terms of military, in terms of ending wars, in terms of completing wars,” said Trump, who returned to office on January 20 last year after defeating Democratic then-vice president Kamala Harris in the 2024 presidential election.”Nobody’s really seen very much like it.”White House aides circulated a 31-page document listing 365 claimed “wins” across immigration, the economy and foreign policy, as reporters packed the briefing room.The president repeated a series of claims long disputed or debunked, including that his 2020 election loss was “rigged,” that prescription drug prices had fallen by 600 percent — a mathematical impossibility — and that the United States had attracted $18 trillion in inward investment.Trump said high stock markets make Americans feel like they are a “financial genius,” but faulted his staff for failing to adequately communicate what he portrayed as major successes in bringing down inflation.On foreign affairs, the Republican signaled an interest in working with Venezuelan opposition leader Maria Corina Machado on the country’s future, following Washington’s January 3 military operation that removed Nicolás Maduro from power.”We’re talking to her,” Trump said. “Maybe we can get her involved in some way. I’d love to be able to do that.”He praised Machado for giving him her Nobel Peace Prize medal, complaining again that the Norwegian committee should have honored him instead.

World stock markets lost ground on Tuesday and precious metals hit fresh peaks as rising US-EU tension stoked volatility following President Donald Trump’s threat to impose tariffs in his drive to acquire Greenland.Major US indices spent the entire day in the red, with the broad-based S&P 500 finishing down more than two percent. The pullback on Wall Street and the reverberations across other financial markets reminded some observers of last April when Trump’s dramatic “Liberation Day” trade announcement sparked market turmoil that relented once Trump backed off his most draconian threats.The US president is expected to make more waves at Wednesday’s World Economic Forum.Trump’s posture towards Europe is “making ties with our biggest ally look fragile,” said Art Hogan of B. Riley Wealth Management. “Unless he retracts some of the rhetoric he’s had, I think it only gets worse.”Europe’s main markets also suffered, with London closing off 0.7 percent and Frankfurt ending down 1.0 percent.Earlier, Tokyo suffered a similar fate even though Asia overall closed mixed.Gold, seen as a safe-haven investment, notched yet another record high, surpassing $4,750 an ounce. Silver also peaked, surging above $95.50 an ounce.Key bond yields jumped on the heightened trade fears with the US 10-year Treasury note jumping to above 4.29 percent while Japanese long-dated bond yields reached record highs.Large tech names including Apple, Amazon and Nvidia fell more than three percent, while industrial giant 3M slumped 7.0 percent on concerns about its outlook. “Overall, this is a manmade crisis, and the continued sell off on Tuesday suggests that US threats to Greenland and their effects on financial markets could have further to go if the situation does not deescalate soon,” said Kathleen Brooks, research director at XTB.After a bright start to the year fueled by fresh hopes for the artificial intelligence sector, investors have taken fright since Trump ramped up his Greenland demands, on grounds of US national security.After European capitals pushed back, Trump on Saturday said he would impose 10 percent levies on eight countries — including Denmark, France, Germany and Britain — from February 1, lifting them to 25 percent on June 1.- ‘Mistake’ -The move has raised questions about the outlook for last year’s US-EU trade deal, the ratification of which was frozen on Tuesday by the European Union parliament.Speaking at the Davos gathering in Switzerland, EU chief Ursula von der Leyen warned the United States that hitting allied European nations with punitive tariffs over Greenland would be a “mistake.””The European Union and the United States have agreed to a trade deal last July. And in politics as in business — a deal is a deal. And when friends shake hands, it must mean something,” she said.US Treasury chief Scott Bessent on Monday said that any retaliatory EU tariffs would be “unwise.”Trump on Tuesday ramped up his rhetoric against France, warning he would impose 200-percent tariffs on French wine and champagne because it was declining his invitation to join a “Board of Peace”. That body was originally conceived to oversee the rebuilding of Gaza but its charter gives it a much broader, global remit, with Trump in charge.- Key figures at around 2115 GMT -New York – Dow: DOWN 1.8 percent at 48,488.59 (close)New York – S&P 500: DOWN 2.1 percent at 6,796.86 (close)New York – Nasdaq Composite: DOWN 2.4 percent at 22,954.32 (close)London – FTSE 100: DOWN 0.7 percent at 10,126.78 points (close)Frankfurt – DAX: DOWN 1.0 percent at 24,703.12 (close)Paris – CAC 40: DOWN 0.6 percent at 8,062.58 (close)Tokyo – Nikkei 225: DOWN 1.1 percent at 52,991.10 (close)Hong Kong – Hang Seng Index: DOWN 0.3 percent at 26,487.51 (close)Shanghai – Composite: FLAT at 4,113.65 (close)Euro/dollar: UP at $1.1719 from $1.1646 on MondayPound/dollar: UP at $1.3433 from $1.3425Dollar/yen: UP at 158.21 yen from 158.11 yenEuro/pound: UP at 87.23 pence from 86.74 penceBrent North Sea Crude: UP 1.5 percent at $64.92 per barrelWest Texas Intermediate: UP 1.5 percent at $60.34 per barrelburs-jmb/dw

European leaders drew a clear line over Greenland Tuesday, vowing an “unflinching” response to Washington’s threats even as US President Donald Trump said he was ready to hold a meeting in Davos about his plans to take the autonomous Danish territory.Asked hours before he was to head to the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland how far he would go, Trump replied only: “You’ll find out.””We have a lot of meetings scheduled on Greenland, and I think things are going to work out pretty well,” Trump told reporters about his Davos meetings.Leaders at the World Economic Forum (WEF) in the Swiss ski resort closed ranks against Trump’s increasingly aggressive America First agenda, while Greenland’s prime minister said his tiny population of 57,000 must be prepared for military force.European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen led the European rejoinder, cautioning that Trump risked plunging US ties with the European Union into a “downward spiral”.France’s Emmanuel Macron warned against US attempts to “subordinate Europe”, and blasted as “unacceptable” Trump’s threats to impose tariffs of up to 25 percent on countries opposed to his Greenland plans.Trump had earlier insisted Greenland was “imperative” for security. “There can be no going back — On that, everyone agrees!” he posted on his Truth Social platform. The US president, who will address the annual gathering of global elites on Wednesday, has put the transatlantic alliance to the test with his demand to take over Greenland.Europe is weighing countermeasures after he threatened levies on eight European countries, though Washington has said any retaliatory levies would be “unwise”.US Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick told European countries “to keep the pressure and temperature low” with regards to threats of retaliatory tariffs, while the US trade envoy Jamieson Greer told journalists in Davos that it would “not be wise” for European nations to use its “bazooka” trade measures.Von der Leyen branded the US tariffs a “mistake”, telling the meeting of world business and political leaders they could start a spiral that would only aid Europe’s adversaries.”So our response will be unflinching, united and proportional,” she said.- NATO at stake -Trump has pressed on with his Greenland campaign on Truth Social, writing that he had a “very good” call with NATO secretary-general Mark Rutte in which he agreed to meet with “various parties” in Davos.Rutte’s predecessor Anders Fogh Rasmussen warned that the Republican’s Greenland gambit had ignited the biggest crisis in NATO’s history, and said the time for “flattering” the US leader was over.”It is the future of NATO and the future of the world order that are at stake,” he told AFP in an interview at Davos.Greenland’s Prime Minister Jens-Frederik Nielsen agreed, telling a press conference in Nuuk that while military force was “unlikely” it could not be ruled out.”That’s why we must be ready for all possibilities, but let’s emphasise this: Greenland is part of NATO and, if there were to be an escalation, it would also have consequences for the rest of the world.”Trump argues he wants to protect mineral-rich Greenland from perceived Russian and Chinese threats — although Washington already has a base there and security agreements through NATO, while analysts suggest Beijing is a small player in the region.EU leaders will hold an emergency summit on Greenland in Brussels on Thursday.- ‘Law of the jungle’ -Other prominent foreign leaders addressing the WEF on Tuesday included Chinese Vice Premier He Lifeng, whose country has been locked in a trade war with Trump.”A select few countries should not have privileges based on self-interest, and the world cannot revert to the law of the jungle where the strong prey on the weak,” He said, without naming names.Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney, who has sought to reduce his country’s reliance on the United States in its own tariffs feud with Trump, also voiced his support for Greenland at Davos.Canada had benefitted from an era of “American hegemony”, he said, but now had to pivot to defend the existing international order.Other flashpoints on the WEF agenda include the crises in Venezuela, Gaza, Iran — and Ukraine.Europe, which is ramping up defence spending to break its security reliance on the United States, still needs Washington’s help to end the Ukraine war and deter the looming Russian threat to its east.But Ukraine’s President Volodymyr Zelensky warned Tuesday that he worried the furore over Greenland could divert attention, warning of a “loss of focus during a full-scale war”.Macron, wearing sunglasses because of a broken blood vessel, sent a message to Trump to propose a G7 summit in Paris on Thursday on Greenland as well as Ukraine, with Copenhagen, Moscow and Kyiv attending on the sidelines.But he later clarified to AFP that no such meeting was yet scheduled and Trump said that he wouldn’t join the meeting.The Kremlin said Russian envoy Kirill Dmitriev plans to meet members of the US delegation in Davos — the first to attend since Russians were excluded from the gathering following Moscow’s invasion of Ukraine in 2022.

The US Supreme Court appeared likely on Tuesday to strike down a Hawaii law that bans the carrying of firearms on private property open to the public such as stores or restaurants.A majority of the justices on the conservative-dominated top court seemed skeptical of the state law, viewing it as a violation of the constitutional right to bear arms.The Hawaii law requires a gun owner with a concealed carry permit to get the explicit permission of a private property owner before bringing a firearm into their establishment.Four other Democratic-ruled states — California, Maryland, New Jersey and New York — have similar laws, which pit the rights of property owners against those of gun owners.The Supreme Court expanded gun rights in a landmark 2022 ruling and has been generally sympathetic to gun owners.”Our national tradition is that people are allowed to carry on private property that is open to the public,” Alan Beck, an attorney representing gun owners who are challenging the state law, told the justices.Beck accused Hawaii of “running roughshod” over the Second Amendment’s “right of the people to keep and bear arms.”Justice Samuel Alito, one of the six conservatives on the nine-member court, told Neal Katyal, the lawyer for Hawaii, that the state law was “relegating the Second Amendment to second-class status.””I don’t see how you can get away from that,” Alito said.Justice Neil Gorsuch, another conservative, dismissed suggestions the case was just about “property rights and has nothing to do with the Second Amendment.””We don’t allow governments to redefine property rights in other contexts that would infringe other constitutional rights,” Gorsuch said.President Donald Trump’s Justice Department is backing the challenge and was represented in court by Deputy Solicitor General Sarah Harris, who said the Hawaii law turns “property open to the public, like a gas station, into the equivalent of someone’s house.””You’re committing a crime under Hawaii law if you actually go onto it without consent,” Harris said.Arguing for the state, Katyal said the case is about “two fundamental rights, the right to bear arms and the property right to exclude.””Everyone agrees there’s a right to carry on private property if the owner wants guns on his property,” he said. “Everyone also agrees there’s also no such right if the owner doesn’t want guns.”There is no constitutional right to assume that every invitation to enter private property includes an invitation to bring a gun,” Katyal said.”The Constitution protects the right to keep and bear arms. It doesn’t create implied consent to bring arms onto another’s property.”The court is expected to rule in the case by the end of June or early July.

President Donald Trump’s administration on Tuesday issued a new rule to fast-track deep-sea mining in international waters, bringing the United States a step closer to unilaterally launching the controversial industry.The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration’s 113-page document consolidates what is currently a two-step permitting process — one for exploration and another for commercial recovery — into a single review, thus reducing environmental oversight.It claims authority under the 1980 Deep Seabed Hard Mineral Resources Act to govern harvesting of minerals in areas beyond US jurisdiction.”Over the past decades there has been a vast improvement in the technological capability for deep seabed mining, and the industry has obtained a substantial amount of information from deep seabed exploration activities,” a document posted to the Federal Register said, justifying the consolidation.But Emily Jeffers, a senior attorney at the Center for Biological Diversity, pushed back against the idea that scientific understanding of the deep ocean has advanced in leaps and bounds, adding the seabed remains one of the planet’s last largely unexplored frontiers, where scientists are only beginning to grasp how ecosystems function.”By issuing the permit simultaneously, they’re committing to exploitation without the information that you would need to evaluate its impacts,” she told AFP.The rule follows an executive order signed by President Donald Trump last April directing agencies to streamline processes in a push to harvest seabed minerals, including rare earth elements critical to clean energy and defense technologies.Teeming with mysterious species, the ocean floor has become a coveted frontier for companies and countries seeking access to minerals in high demand for technologies such as electric vehicles.Swathes of Pacific Ocean seabed are carpeted in potato-sized “polymetallic nodules” containing cobalt, nickel, copper and manganese.Scientists, however, worry that mining could smother species through sediment plumes or release heavy metals that move up the food chain.Canadian firm The Metals Company has emerged as a frontrunner in the race, seeking to explore for minerals in the Clarion-Clipperton Zone of the Pacific Ocean.That prospect has unsettled the United Nations’ International Seabed Authority, which issued a veiled warning about TMC’s potential activities last year.ISA-member countries are deeply divided over how to proceed, with a growing number calling for a moratorium. French President Emmanuel Macron has said it would be “madness to launch predatory economic action that will disrupt the deep seabed, disrupt biodiversity, destroy it and release irrecoverable carbon sinks — when we know nothing about it.”The United States is not party to the ISA or to the UN Convention on the Law of the Sea (UNCLOS), under which the authority was established in 1994.

US President Donald Trump’s government has asked countries to pay $1 billion for a permanent spot on his “Board of Peace” aimed at resolving conflicts, according to its charter seen by AFP.The board was originally conceived to oversee the rebuilding of Gaza, but the charter does not appear to limit its role to the occupied Palestinian territory.- What will it do? -The Board of Peace will be chaired by Trump, according to its founding charter.It is “an international organization that seeks to promote stability, restore dependable and lawful governance, and secure enduring peace in areas affected or threatened by conflict”, reads the preamble of the charter sent to countries invited to participate. It will “undertake such peace-building functions in accordance with international law”, it adds.- Who will run it? -Trump will be chairman but also “separately serve as inaugural representative” of the United States.”The chairman shall have exclusive authority to create, modify, or dissolve subsidiary entities as necessary or appropriate to fulfil the Board of Peace’s mission,” the document states.He will pick members of an executive board to be “leaders of global stature” to “serve two-year terms, subject to removal by the chairman”.He may also, “acting on behalf of the Board of Peace”, “adopt resolutions or other directives”.The chairman can be replaced only in case of “voluntary resignation or as a result of incapacity”.- Who can be a member? -Member states must be invited by the US president, and will be represented by their head of state or government.Each member “shall serve a term of no more than three years”, the charter says.But “the three-year membership term shall not apply to member states that contribute more than USD $1,000,000,000 in cash funds to the Board of Peace within the first year of the charter’s entry into force”, it adds.The board will “convene voting meetings at least annually”, and “each member state shall have one vote”.But while all decisions require “a majority of member states present and voting”, they will also be “subject to the approval of the chairman, who may also cast a vote in his capacity as chairman in the event of a tie”.- Who’s on the executive board? -The executive board will “operationalise” the organisation’s mission, according to the White House, which said it would be chaired by Trump and include seven members:- US Secretary of State Marco Rubio- Steve Witkoff, Trump’s special negotiator- Jared Kushner, Trump’s son-in-law- Tony Blair, former UK prime minister- Marc Rowan, billionaire US financier- Ajay Banga, World Bank president – Robert Gabriel, loyal Trump aide on the National Security Council- Which countries are invited? -Dozens of countries and leaders have said they have received an invitation.They include China, India, Russia’s President Vladimir Putin, Ukraine’s Volodymyr Zelensky and Canada’s Prime Minister Mark Carney.Egypt’s President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi and Argentina’s President Javier Milei have also confirmed an invitation.Other countries to confirm invitations include Jordan, Brazil, Paraguay, Pakistan and a host of nations from Europe, Central Asia and the Middle East.- Who will join? -Countries from Albania to Vietnam have indicated a willingness to join the board.Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban, Trump’s most ardent supporter in the European Union, is in.The top US ally in the Middle East, the United Arab Emirates, was also quick to join the initiative.Canada said it would take part, but explicitly ruled out paying the $1-billion fee for permanent membership.It is unclear whether any of the countries that have responded positively — a list including Armenia, Belarus, Kazakhstan and Morocco — would be willing to pay the $1 billion.- Who won’t be involved? -Long-time US ally France has indicated it will not join. The response sparked an immediate threat from Trump to slap sky-high tariffs on French wine.Zelensky said it would be “very hard” to be a member of a council alongside Russia, and diplomats were “working on it”.The UK echoed the sentiment, saying it was “concerned” that Putin had been invited.”Putin is the aggressor in an illegal war against Ukraine, and he has shown time and time again he is not serious about peace,” said a Downing Street spokesperson.- When does it start? -The charter says it enters into force “upon expression of consent to be bound by three States”.burs-jxb/yad/phz

US Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell plans to attend a Supreme Court hearing Wednesday on President Donald Trump’s attempted firing of a central bank governor, a source familiar with the matter told AFP.Powell’s expected appearance comes as the Trump administration intensifies its pressure campaign targeting the central bank, including opening a criminal investigation into the Fed chief.Wednesday’s case involves Trump’s push last summer to fire Fed Governor Lisa Cook over claims of mortgage fraud. Cook, a key official serving on the Fed’s rate-setting committee, has challenged her ouster.The Supreme Court in October barred Trump from immediately removing Cook — allowing her to remain in her post at least until the case is heard.Powell’s anticipated attendance on Wednesday, which was first reported by US media and confirmed to AFP by a source with knowledge of the matter, would mark a more public show of support for Cook than before.Earlier this month, Powell revealed that US prosecutors had opened an inquiry into him over an ongoing renovation of the Fed’s headquarters. Prosecutors have sent the Fed subpoenas and threatened a criminal indictment relating to testimony he gave last summer about the remodeling.Powell has dismissed the investigation as a politically motivated attempt to influence the central bank’s interest rate setting.The heads of major central banks have also thrown their support behind Powell, saying it was critical to preserve the Fed’s independence.Asked about Powell’s planned attendance at the court, US Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent told CNBC: “If you’re trying not to politicize the Fed, for the Fed chair to be sitting there trying to put his thumb on the scale is a real mistake.”Bessent added that Trump could reach a decision on whom to name as Powell’s successor “as soon as next week,” with the Fed chief’s term due to expire in May.

US President Donald Trump’s tariff threats on eight European states, most of which are part of the EU common market, raises the question: can he really target them individually? Technically yes, but in practice — it’s not so simple.When asked the same question, a smiling European Commission spokesman Olof Gill urged reporters to “take a deep breath” before spelling out his explanation.Trump stunned Europe at the weekend when he threatened levies of up to 25 percent on EU members Denmark, Finland, France, Germany, the Netherlands and Sweden, plus non-members Britain and Norway.But because the European Union functions as a single market with a customs union, Brussels explained, while it might be technically possible for Trump to slap sanctions on each, that could mean bureaucratic hell for US importers.- How does the single market work? -Denmark, Finland, France, Germany, the Netherlands and Sweden are part of the EU single market with 21 other countries, and a customs union, which allows the free flow of goods from one member state to another.This also means products made in the EU, which could be exported later to the United States, move around the union without their origin being tracked.Because of this free movement, many companies use products made from across the bloc. For example, a car might be assembled in Germany using parts made in Slovakia.This means any restrictions on trade aimed at one of the EU’s 27 countries could in theory be circumvented by moving goods to another member state before exporting them.”Exports of French wine, Dutch cheese and Danish pharmaceuticals from Budapest to the US might suddenly spike,” quipped an EU diplomat — in a nod to the warm ties linking Hungary’s Prime Minister Viktor Orban and the White House.”Let’s see if Trump is going to punish his friend Orban with a tariff,” the diplomat said.The situation is different for Norway and the United Kingdom.Norway is part of the European Economic Area that also includes the EU’s 27 states, but there is one major difference — it is not part of the bloc’s customs union and must fulfil extra border checks.When Britain left the EU, it opted to remain outside the single market.- So then, are individual tariffs feasible? -The above means that the United States would have a hard time trying to figure out where European goods actually come from.”From a customs and operational perspective, it is practically very difficult to attribute goods exclusively to a single member state, given that production and transformation processes are often distributed across the EU,” Gill said.While nothing prevents a third country from demanding more information about national provenance, under EU rules, goods manufactured in the bloc have only to be labelled as “EU origin”.”So to summarise, it is technically possible. It is immensely bureaucratically and procedurally complex to do so,” Gill said.

NATO is facing the biggest crisis in its history over Donald Trump’s Greenland threats, and the time for “flattering” the US leader is over, former alliance chief Anders Fogh Rasmussen told AFP Tuesday.”It’s not only a crisis for NATO, it’s a crisis for the transatlantic community at large, and a challenge to the world order as we have known it since World War Two,” he said in an interview from the World Economic Forum in Davos.”It is the future of NATO and the future of the world order that are at stake.”Rasmussen, a former Danish prime minister who led NATO from 2009 to 2014, urged the alliance’s current head, Mark Rutte, and other European leaders to start taking a tougher line with the US president after he threatened tariffs.”We have to change strategy and conclude that the only thing that Trump respects is force, strength and unity,” Rasmussen said.”That’s exactly what Europe should demonstrate. The time for flattering is over. Enough is enough.”Rasmussen’s comments came as European leaders — including Rutte — brace for meetings with Trump in Davos to try to talk him down.Rasmussen insisted the current crisis swirling around NATO could still be “fixed” and the alliance could emerge stronger in the Arctic region.But, he said, Trump’s actions had already created a “mental break” between Washington and its long-time European allies which benefited Russia and China. “This is a new situation that differs from all other disputes we have seen in the history of NATO,” he said.”If Trump would attack Greenland and take military action against Greenland, that would de facto mean the end of NATO.”- Distracting from Ukraine -Rasmussen, 72, said that the Greenland issue had become a “weapon of mass distraction” for Trump that was drawing attention away from Russia’s war in Ukraine.”Everybody’s now speaking about Greenland, which is not a real threat to North Atlantic security,” he said.”Russia’s attack against Ukraine is the real threat, and attention should not be distracted from this real threat.”The former Danish premier, who led his country from 2001 to 2009, said that there needed to be a “constructive dialogue” now with the United States on Greenland. He said Copenhagen and Washington could update their 1951 agreement governing troop deployments in Greenland, open the territory to US firms for mineral extraction and agree to keep Russia and China out. But there could be no compromise on the fundamental question of ceding territory to Trump. “We can accommodate all his wishes, except one,” Rasmussen said.”Greenland is not for sale and as a real estate expert he should know if an estate is not for sale you can’t purchase it.”