Good morning, world! I’ve been coming to Davos for 20-odd years, and I’m not sure I’ve ever seen such a roller-coaster day of news.
Yesterday, I watched as President Trump gave a fiery speech demanding to take over Greenland and threatening economic warfare against Europe unless he got his way. Then, several hours later, he abruptly dropped his threat, posting on Truth Social that he had reached an unspecified “framework” for an agreement.
I’ll do my best to help you understand this rapidly developing story.
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| Doug Mills/The New York Times |
Greenland whiplash
The fate of Greenland has loomed large this week at the World Economic Forum in Davos. Long before Trump arrived, it was all anyone wanted to talk about. While waiting in line for the many security checks. In the corridors of the sprawling conference center. At the bar after hours.
In the ladies’ room, I stumbled across a group of French diplomats touching up their makeup while listing ways Europeans could retaliate. A session titled “Can Europe Defend Itself?” was wildly oversubscribed.
The day started with a lot of anticipation for Trump’s speech to the forum, during which he addressed the topic of Greenland, ruling out the use of force, but, seemingly, threatening economic warfare. It ended with Trump calling off those threats, saying on social media that he had reached a framework agreement with Mark Rutte, the secretary general of NATO, “with respect to Greenland and, in fact, the entire Arctic Region.”
The announcement followed a NATO meeting on Wednesday where top military officers discussed a compromise in which Denmark would give the United States sovereignty over small pockets of the island where the United States could build military bases, according to three senior officials familiar with the discussion.
At this point, there are still many questions — and many objections to any sort of deal.
Aaja Chemnitz, one of the two Greenlandic members of the Danish parliament and a major political figure in Greenland, rejected Trump’s negotiations with NATO.
“What we are witnessing these days in statements from Trump is completely absurd. NATO has absolutely no mandate to negotiate anything whatsoever without us in Greenland,” she said in a post on Facebook.
The speech in Davos
Earlier in the day, Trump had taken the main stage at the World Economic Forum, in an auditorium packed with hundreds of elected and business leaders, who patiently listened to him boast about turning the U.S. into the “hottest country” in the world. (Our fact check of the speech is here.)
Then he pivoted.
“Would you like me to say a few words about Greenland?” Trump asked. There were a few scattered chuckles. But they quickly turned into an anxious silence, punctuated by audible gasps, as the president lashed out at NATO allies.
He ruled out the use of force, which came as a surprise to some: “I don’t have to use force. I don’t want to use force. I won’t use force.”
But he did seem to threaten economic and security consequences for Europe if the United States wasn’t allowed to purchase the island — only to reverse course hours later.
A potential deal?
What we know about a potential deal is very limited. Officials speaking to my colleagues on condition of anonymity compared the idea of giving the U.S. sovereignty over small parts of Greenland to Britain’s military bases in Cyprus, which are regarded as British territory. (The officials said they did not know if that idea had inspired the framework announced by Trump.)
It was a day of whiplash, and the status of negotiations is still uncertain.
There was a degree of relief among some European leaders when Trump ruled out an invasion to claim the island, and some Greenlanders and Danes expressed hope at the prospect of a potential solution. Lars Lokke Rasmussen, Denmark’s foreign minister, told a Danish television channel that the day ended better than it began.
“This morning we had a president who would not rule out taking Greenland by force. Now he says he will not take Greenland by force,” he said.
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| Nuuk, Greenland’s capital. Jonathan Nackstrand/Agence France-Presse — Getty Images |
Greenland — or Iceland, as Trump called it a couple of times — Europe and NATO were not the only targets of Trump in his speech. Here’s a look at everything (and everyone) Trump targeted at Davos.
Earlier in the week, Prime Minister Mark Carney of Canada received a standing ovation when he declared that the world order had undergone “a rupture.” Carney’s view is widely shared here. And that feeling looks certain to remain, whatever happens next with Greenland.
Additional reporting by Jim Tankersley, Zolan Kanno-Youngs and Lara Jakes
For more:
| The depth of the rift between Trump and Europe has been on full display. This evening, E.U. leaders will gather in Brussels to try and figure out what comes next.For decades, leaders have gathered in Davos to discuss a shared economic and political future. Yesterday, Trump transformed the forum into the setting of a dramatic rupture. |
| MORE TOP NEWS |
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| Syrian government forces near the city of Hasakah in northeastern Syria, yesterday. Abdulmonam Eassa/Getty Images |
U.S. starts moving ISIS detainees out of Syria
The U.S. announced yesterday that it had moved 150 Islamic State fighters from a detention facility in northeastern Syria to Iraq and that it might eventually move up to 7,000 more.
The transfer followed concerns that thousands of former ISIS fighters and their family members could escape from detention as the Syrian government and Kurdish-led forces vie for control of the area. The 150 fighters were taken to an unspecified “secure location in Iraq,” the U.S. Central Command said.
The Kurdish-led militia known as the Syrian Democratic Forces, or S.D.F., agreed on Sunday to hand over control of the prisons to the Syrian government. The transition has been rocky. In recent days, detainees escaped from at least one prison amid skirmishes. Chaos appeared to break out after S.D.F. forces abruptly withdrew from the Al Hol detention camp, which houses tens of thousands of family members of ISIS fighters.
The S.D.F. was the U.S.’s closest ally in Syria for more than a decade. That alliance is now disintegrating as the U.S. throws its weight behind the new Syrian government.
| OTHER NEWS |
| Israeli forces killed at least 11 people in Gaza, including three Palestinian journalists who the Israeli military said were flying a drone.Japan restarted a reactor at a large nuclear complex, nearly 15 years after the Fukushima meltdown.Prince Harry became emotional as he testified in London’s High Court about what he called intrusive news coverage.Taiwan’s $40 billion military spending plan was blocked by opposition legislators.The Iranian government said that it had successfully suppressed anti-government protests after a deadly crackdown.The European Parliament voted to delay a major trade deal with four South American countries.Han Duck-soo, the former prime minister of South Korea, was sentenced to 23 years for collaborating with the imposition of martial law.Prue Leith, a judge on “The Great British Baking Show,” said she was leaving the show. |
| SPORTS |
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— When Veronika, a 13-year-old cow in Austria, has an itch, she scratches it by expertly wielding a stick. Researchers say it’s the first scientifically documented case of tool use by cattle.
| MORNING READ |
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| Gilles Sabrié for The New York Times |
The Ocean Flower Island real estate project in Hainan Province, China, was supposed to rival Palm Island Jumeirah in Dubai. Instead, it’s a $12 billion “dead zone,” as one visitor put it.
The artificial island has a gigantic shopping mall without shops, a theme park without visitors, high-rise housing blocks without residents and beaches too dangerous for swimming. My colleagues paid a visit to the project, a symbol of China’s never-ending real estate crisis.
| AROUND THE WORLD |
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| Lily Landes for The New York Times |
What’s curdling business … in Vermont
It was the cheese that drew Canadian customers across the U.S. border to Willey’s Store in Greensboro, Vt. Alongside Americans, they shopped for Withersbrook Blue, a recent winner at the World Cheese Awards, and creamy Harbison, which has woodsy notes derived from its spruce-bark wrapping.
But recently, Trump’s threats and tariffs have driven many Canadians away. Willey’s Store sales declined by 33 percent last year, and the entire town is struggling. Read more.
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| RECIPE |
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| Andrew Scrivani for The New York Times |
In Switzerland, rosti (pronounced roosh-ti) is considered a national dish, and it’s most popular in the country’s German-speaking regions. Traditionally, rosti is made from grated potatoes and fried in a skillet. Our dressed-up version is served with smoked salmon, sour cream and a poached egg. It’s perfect for a weekend breakfast.
