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      Trump has defused a bomb of his own making. For now | Mohamad Bazzi

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      After a bombastic speech at the World Economic Forum in Davos, Trump backed away from his threat to impose tariffs on European countriesIn the past few days, Donald Trump turned the US presidency into a tool for his personal glory and vengeance. On Saturday, he threatened to impose tariffs of up to 25% on a bloc of European countries until Denmark agrees to sell Greenland to the US. The next day, Trump texted Norway’s prime minister, saying his failure to win the Nobel peace prize was one of the reasons he’s intent on seizing control of Greenland. After being snubbed for last year’s award, Trump said he no longer felt the need “to think purely of peace”.By Tuesday morning, as European leaders continued to absorb the shock of Trump’s threats and insults, the president posted an AI-generated meme that showed him planting a US flag on the island, flanked by his vice-president and secretary of state. “Greenland. US Territory. Est. 2026,” the image said. (Trump shared another image, also apparently edited by AI, that showed him sitting alongside a map of the US that includes Canada, Greenland and Venezuela, as he spoke with European leaders assembled at the White House.) Later on Tuesday, when he was asked at a press conference how far he was willing to go to acquire Greenland, Trump responded tersely: “You’ll find out.”Mohamad Bazzi is director of the Center for Near Eastern Studies, and a journalism professor, at New York University Continue reading… More

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      Trump declaration of Greenland framework deal met with scepticism amid tariff relief

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      Nato chief Mark Rutte says there is ‘a lot of work to be done’, as some Danish MPs voice concern at Greenland apparently being sidelined in US president’s talks Donald Trump’s announcement of a “framework of a future deal” that would settle the issue of Greenland after weeks of escalating threats has been met with profound scepticism from people in the Arctic territory, even as financial markets rebounded and European leaders welcomed a reprieve from further tariffs.Just hours after the president used his speech at the World Economic Forum to insist he wanted Greenland, “including right, title and ownership,” but backed away from his more bellicose threats of military intervention – Trump took to social media to announce “the framework of a future deal with respect to Greenland” and withdrew the threat of tariffs against eight European countries. He later called it “a concept of a deal” when he spoke to business network CNBC soon after Wall Street closed. Continue reading… More

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      US treasury secretary cuts awkward figure as Trump’s diplomatic defender

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      Scott Bessent’s maladroit efforts to calm European anger and Americans’ puzzlement over Greenland have fallen flatTrump steps up demand to annex Greenland in rebuke to Europe’s leaders Scott Bessent has gained a reputation as one of Donald Trump’s suavest enablers but his dismissal of Denmark as “irrelevant” is likely to earn him a place in the annals of infamy rather than diplomacy.The US treasury secretary’s tactless put-down of a Nato ally has come as the annual World Economic Forum at Davos has cast him into the international limelight at the very moment when Trump is upping the ante to take over Greenland, which is Danish sovereign territory. Continue reading… More

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      Speak hysterically and carry a big stick: Trump’s foreign policy threats

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      In his second term, Trump’s bluster has been accompanied by an emotional and aggressive approach to foreign policyThis was originally published in This Week in Trumpland; sign up to receive it in your inbox every WednesdayTheodore Roosevelt, the 26th president, characterized his approach to international relations as “speak softly and carry a big stick”. It was an approach that won him a Nobel peace prize in 1906, for his role in ending the Russo-Japanese war.In recent days, Donald Trump’s own take on diplomacy has come into focus, one that might be characterized thusly: speak hysterically and threaten to use (and sometimes actually use) a big stick. This idiosyncratic approach to statecraft has yet to win Trump a Nobel peace prize, although that is something that the president has said – many, many times – does not bother him at all. Continue reading… More

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      ‘Nostalgia is not a strategy’: Mark Carney is emerging as the unflinching realist ready to tackle Trump

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      In a speech at Davos, written by Carney himself, the Canadian prime minister laid out his doctrine for a world of fractured international normsFor much of Mark Carney’s career as an economist and central banker, he existed at the nexus of global thinkers and multilateral institutions. The “rockstar banker” was a fixture at summits, where he spoke beside business leaders and the political elite, espousing the values of international cooperation and the need for open economies and shared rules.But after less than a year as prime minister of Canada, Carney offered a blunter assessment of the world on Tuesday: “the strong do what they can, and the weak suffer what they must.” Continue reading… More

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      Might is right: US ‘foreign policy’ held hostage to mad king Trump’s whims

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      Increasingly unpopular at home, a president obsessed by his legacy has turned his scattergun on the world stageOne year into the second Trump administration, an actual US foreign policy remains just a nice idea. Instead, the world has been forced to adapt to the world according to Donald Trump: one increasingly shaped by his erratic shifts and unpredictable decisions, his fury at perceived slights and his growing desire to stamp his legacy in the model of an imperial leader from centuries past.Think of it as the mad king’s court, where every day is a carnival. Continue reading… More

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      Trump made 10 key pledges a year ago – here’s what happened since then

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      A review of Trump’s bold promises about immigration, the economy, the US’s standing in the world and much moreThere was no debate about record crowd sizes this time. With the temperature plunging to 27F (-3C) and a wind chill making it feel far colder, Donald Trump’s second inauguration was held in the rotunda at the US Capitol in Washington on 20 January 2025.The great and the good of the political elite were there, including former presidents Bill Clinton, George W Bush and Barack Obama and outgoing president Joe Biden. So were tech oligarchs such as Jeff Bezos, Tim Cook, Elon Musk and Mark Zuckerberg. At 12.10pm, they listened intently as Trump began a half-hour-long inaugural address. Continue reading… More

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      Markets fall and gold and silver hit new highs after Trump’s latest tariff threat

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      European carmakers among hardest hit with US president’s talk of Greenland-linked trade levies also pushing down the dollarMarkets stay calm amid Trump’s gambit, but long-term risks are hugeCould the EU hit back with its ‘big bazooka’?European stock markets fell on Monday and gold and silver prices hit record highs after Donald Trump threatened to impose additional tariffs on eight European countries in an increasingly aggressive attempt to claim Greenland.France’s Cac fell 1.8%, while Germany’s Dax and Italy’s FTSE MIB were down 1.3%. In the UK, the FTSE 100 fell 0.4%. Continue reading… More