Macron takes intention at ‘bully’ Trump as EU leaders ramp up response to president’s threats | EUROtoday

Emmanuel Macron has referred to as out Donald Trump’s “bullying” as European leaders united to organize for a showdown with the US president over his calls for for Greenland.

As Donald Trump doubled down on his calls for for the Danish sovereign territory and exacerbated his risk of tariffs on allies who oppose the transfer with the stunning reveal of personal texts he had acquired from Mr Macron and different world leaders, the French president mentioned the EU mustn’t bend to the “law of the strongest”, and will resist what he referred to as “the new colonial approach”.

Just hours earlier than Mr Trump is anticipated to reach on the World Economic Forum (WEF) in Davos to face worldwide leaders, Mr Macron warned: “We prefer respect to bullies, we prefer science to conspiracies, and we prefer the rule of law to brutality.”

In a press convention on Tuesday, the US president was requested how far he would go with a purpose to receive Greenland, to which he ominously replied: “You’ll find out.”

The unprecedented breakdown of relations between the US and its Western European allies comes as Mr Trump launched a blistering assault on the UK’s plans handy over the Chagos Islands to Mauritius as one in every of “great stupidity” – regardless of publicly welcoming the deal final 12 months.

In the long-winded convention, by which he mentioned the administration’s achievements in its first 12 months, Trump additionally forged doubt over whether or not Washington’s allies within the Nato navy alliance would come to its defence.

“I did more for Nato than any other person alive or dead, I think you could ask the secretary general [Mark Rutte] about that, he said it, I’ve done more for Nato than anybody,” he mentioned.

“But Nato has to treat us fairly too. The big fear I have with Nato is [that] we spend these amounts of money with Nato, and I know we’ll come to their rescue, but I just really do question whether or not they’ll come to ours,” he added.

Trump added that he believed the US and Nato would come to an settlement over Greenland which might make all events “very happy”.

Former Nato secretary normal Anders Rasmussen, an ex-prime minister of Denmark, warned that the Nato alliance, which has underpinned Western safety for the reason that finish of the Second World War, is now on the point of collapse due to Mr Trump’s behaviour.

He advised Times Radio: “It’s extremely serious. Actually, if that threat [taking over Greenland] comes to fruition, it will be the end of Nato. It doesn’t make sense to have a collective defence organisation where the major ally attacks another ally with the aim to take territory. So it would be the end of Nato.”

Sir Keir Starmer’s hopes that the UK may act as a bridge between the US and Europe appeared to have evaporated after Mr Trump lashed out on the prime minister’s “stupid” deal to cede the Chagos Islands to Mauritius.

The prime minister’s closest lieutenant, chancellor of the Duchy of Lancaster Darren Jones, insisted Sir Keir’s strategy to Mr Trump was yielding outcomes, however admitted: “It’s not normal for geopolitical discussions to be handled in this way.”

The disaster has confirmed to be the largest pressure on the particular relationship between the UK and the US since Harold Wilson refused to ship British troops to Vietnam within the Nineteen Sixties.

But Sir Keir risked igniting Mr Trump’s rage additional by agreeing to the brand new Chinese tremendous embassy to be inbuilt Royal Mint Court, close to the Tower of London, regardless of MI5 warning that safety dangers couldn’t be dominated out.

With anger rising in Switzerland forward of President Trump touching down within the Alpine resort, EU leaders made it clear that they are going to deploy the hardest financial response potential to the US president’s risk of tariffs.

Mr Macron referred to as for EU leaders to make use of the bloc’s “big bazooka” of financial countermeasures.

“The anti-coercion mechanism is a powerful instrument, and we should not hesitate to deploy it in today’s tough environment,” he mentioned.

Meanwhile, European Commission president Ursula von der Leyen used her WEF speech to warn Mr Trump that the EU’s response “will be unflinching, united and proportional”.

She mentioned that when “friends shake on a deal, we expect them to honour the deal”.

But members of the Trump administration already in Davos have been unapologetic about their tearing up of worldwide guidelines and norms.

In a frosty second on a panel with UK chancellor Rachel Reeves, Mr Trump’s commerce secretary Howard Lutnick mentioned he was on the occasion to make the purpose that “globalisation has failed the West”.

He mentioned: “When America shines, the world shines”, however added {that a} world with out the US “gets dark pretty quickly”.

Mr Lutnick later tried to reassure Ms Reeves that the US nonetheless loves its allies within the wake of the Greenland risk, saying: “We love you, we do”, to which Ms Reeves responded: “Thank you very much, the feeling is mutual”.

The awkward change got here after the chancellor had urged the US to “think of how your allies can also help you achieve your objectives as well as helping all of the Western world to thrive”.

But Democratic California governor Gavin Newsom urged Europe’s leaders to “stop the bull****” and “stand up to Trump”.

French international minister Jean-Noel Barrot, in the meantime, advised his parliament that France helps the suspension of a commerce deal between the EU and the United States, given Washington’s ongoing “threat” of tariffs.

“The threat of customs duties [is] being used as blackmail to obtain unjustifiable concessions,” Mr Barrot mentioned, including the European Commission has “very powerful instruments” to reply to Mr Trump’s threats.

European Union’s international coverage chief Kaja Kallas mentioned the bloc would maintain its floor on Greenland regardless of rising US strain. She careworn that the tariffs threatened by Mr Trump on items from Europe would undermine the prosperity of each the EU and the US.

Addressing the European parliament, Ms Kallas mentioned Greenland’s geostrategic significance had elevated just lately, stressing the Nato alliance was nicely suited to take care of the safety of the island.

Meanwhile, senior Republicans have sought to attempt to mend relationships with their allies. Mike Johnson, speaker of the US House of Representatives and an ally of Mr Trump, who’s visiting London, mentioned his mission was to “help calm the waters”.

In a speech to MPs and friends in Westminster on Tuesday, he mentioned he agreed with Sir Keir’s strategy of discovering a decision.

“We’ve always been able to work through our differences calmly as friends. We will continue to do that. I want to assure you this morning that that is still the case,” Mr Johnson mentioned.

“I spoke to President Trump at length yesterday, and I told him that I really felt that my mission here – that even though we planned this back in the fall – we didn’t know how the events would develop over the last few days.

“But I told the president that I felt that my mission here today was to encourage our friends and help calm the waters.”