Trump’s Greenland Gambit Sparks Tensions At Davos Summit

The World Economic Forum’s annual meeting in Davos, Switzerland, has always been a magnet for controversy, power plays, and the occasional global breakthrough. But this year, the gathering—spanning January 19 to 23, 2026—has been thrown into tumult by U.S. President Donald Trump’s headline-grabbing demands, sharp rhetoric, and a series of diplomatic standoffs that have left even seasoned delegates scratching their heads.

Trump’s return to Davos in person for the first time since 2020 was anticipated to be dramatic, but few expected the level of spectacle that unfolded. According to Metro, the president arrived three hours late to the summit after Air Force One was forced to turn back due to a minor electrical issue. When he finally took the stage on January 21, Trump wasted no time unleashing a barrage of criticisms and demands that set the tone for the rest of the conference.

“Until the last few days, when I told them about Iceland, they loved me. They called me Daddy,” Trump told the packed audience, appearing to confuse Iceland and Greenland in a gaffe that quickly went viral. He continued, “I don’t know that they’d [Nato] be there for us. They are not there for us on Iceland, that I can tell you. Our stock market took the first dip yesterday because of Iceland. So Iceland has already cost us a lot of money.”

But it was Trump’s fixation on Greenland that truly electrified—and unsettled—the forum. As reported by CNBC Africa, Trump demanded immediate negotiations to acquire the Arctic island from Denmark, stating, “The fact is no nation or group of nations is in a position to secure Greenland other than the United States.” He added, “All the United States is asking for is a place called Greenland. We already had it as a trustee but respectfully returned it back to Denmark not long ago after we defeated the Germans, the Japanese, the Italians and others.” Trump insisted that U.S. ownership was necessary to defend Greenland, arguing, “You need the ownership to defend it. You cannot defend it on a lease.”

Trump’s rhetoric didn’t stop there. He floated the idea of building a “golden dome” on Greenland and threatened, “We probably won’t get anything unless I decide to use excessive strength and force. But I won’t do that. People thought I would use force. I don’t want to use force. I won’t use force.” These comments, coupled with his announcement of new tariffs on European countries resisting the U.S. bid for Greenland, sent shockwaves through the diplomatic community. Trump warned that tariffs on countries like the UK would rise from 10% to 25% by June 1 if a deal wasn’t reached.

The Danish government, at the center of the Greenland dispute, responded by refusing to send representatives to Davos, a decision confirmed by a WEF spokesperson. “Any decisions on attendance are a matter for the government concerned. We can confirm that the Danish government will not be represented in Davos this week,” the spokesperson told CNBC Africa. The absence underscored just how high tensions had risen over Trump’s aggressive stance.

The president’s speech also included a scathing critique of Europe and the UK’s energy policies. “The United Kingdom produces just one third of the total energy from all sources that it did in 1999. And they are sitting on top of the North Sea – one of the greatest reserves anywhere in the world. That is one reason why their energy has reached catastrophically low levels with equally high prices,” Trump declared, as reported by Metro. He lambasted wind energy, saying, “One thing I have noticed is that the more windmills a country has, the more money that country loses and the worse that country is doing. They kill the birds. They ruin your landscapes. Stupid people buy them.”

European leaders did not take Trump’s provocations lying down. French President Emmanuel Macron, addressing the conference a day earlier, asserted, “I prefer respect to bullies and the rule of law to brutality.” Belgium’s Prime Minister Bart De Wever went further, likening Trump to the “Very Hungry Caterpillar” and declaring, “We have to wake up, we have to rearm, we have to integrate our market and we have to seek new alliances.”

The UK, too, found itself in Trump’s crosshairs. Prime Minister Keir Starmer, though not attending Davos, responded firmly to Trump’s tariff threats and the Greenland saga. According to the Evening Standard, Starmer said he “will not yield” to Trump in defending Danish sovereignty. Chancellor Rachel Reeves, representing the UK in Davos, indicated that the government would not rule out retaliatory tariffs against the U.S.

Meanwhile, the World Economic Forum itself was bustling with nearly 3,000 participants from 130 countries, including 850 top executives and a record 400 political leaders, as noted by CNBC Africa. Notable attendees included French President Emmanuel Macron, Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney, German Chancellor Friedrich Merz, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy, and tech titans like Nvidia’s Jensen Huang and Microsoft’s Satya Nadella. The U.S. delegation, described as the “largest” ever, featured Secretary of State Marco Rubio, Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent, Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick, Trade Representative Jamieson Greer, and senior advisers Jared Kushner and Steve Witkoff.

Yet, some major figures were conspicuously absent. Chinese President Xi Jinping, Brazil’s Lula da Silva, India’s Narendra Modi, and Saudi Arabia’s Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman all skipped the event. Klaus Schwab, the forum’s founder, was also not present, having stepped down in 2025 following an investigation (he was cleared of wrongdoing). BlackRock CEO Larry Fink and Roche vice-chair Andre Hoffman served as interim co-chairs, aiming to “re-instil the economic orientation of WEF,” according to McKinsey’s Eric Kutcher.

The mood at Davos reflected the world’s shifting power dynamics and the growing skepticism about globalization. As Jan Aart Scholte, professor at Leiden University, observed to CNBC Africa, “Global capital remains a strong force in world politics, even if big multinational enterprises are generally less embraced and celebrated than 20-30 years ago.” The forum’s official theme, “A Spirit of Dialogue,” seemed almost ironic as delegates grappled with escalating tariffs, territorial disputes, and the specter of American force.

Critics, both left and right, voiced their perennial concerns about Davos. Some on the right dismissed the forum as elitist “groupthink,” while those on the left decried it as a gathering of the global elite imposing their ideology. Protests outside and heated debates inside the congress center highlighted just how polarizing the event—and its participants—have become.

Amid all the drama, the World Economic Forum 2026 has become a stage for the world’s most powerful—and its most contentious—voices. Whether any real dialogue or compromise will emerge from the noise remains to be seen, but for now, Davos has once again proven itself as the epicenter of global tension and ambition.