When Trump Tore Up the Script in Davos

It was supposed to be a speech about the economy. Perhaps a few words about housing policy as well, as his advisers had announced for weeks. Forty-five minutes were scheduled. In the end, Donald Trump spoke for more than 70 minutes before the assembled business leaders and politicians at the World Economic Forum in Davos - and no one in the room knew anymore what exactly was happening.

Even the journey there was chaotic. Air Force One had to turn back after takeoff in Maryland, then took off again. Trump landed shortly before his speech and drove straight to the congress center. His voice sounded hoarse as BlackRock CEO Larry Fink introduced him and casually mentioned that there were not enough seats. Some people stood along the walls. The atmosphere in the room was tense.

Trump began harmlessly enough. He said he was happy to be back in beautiful Davos, among so many businesspeople, friends and - he paused - a few enemies. The audience laughed nervously. What followed was less a speech than a stream of consciousness, a mixture of economic policy, personal anecdotes, threats and confusions. Europe took its share. His friends would no longer recognize many European cities, Trump said, referring to immigration. Europe had paralyzed itself by trying to reduce greenhouse gases. Germany and Great Britain had harmed themselves with their energy policy. With every jab at wind turbines, there was restrained laughter in the room - an audience that had spent years discussing climate change and renewable energy now listened as the American president mocked their move away from fossil fuels.

“Windmills are all over Europe. Windmills are all over. And they are losers. One thing I have found: the more windmills a country has, the more money that country loses, and the worse off that country is. China makes almost all of the windmills, and yet I could not find any wind farms in China. Have you ever thought about that? They put up a few big wind farms, but they do not use them. They only build them to show people what they could look like. They do not turn, they do nothing.”

That is how Trump likes it - red carpet and everyone watching only the president

Then came the story about Swiss watches. Switzerland makes beautiful Rolex watches, Trump said, but pays nothing to the United States for exports. So he imposed a tariff. Representatives of the country and the company had called him and visited him, begging him to lift the tariff. He had given in, but felt that Switzerland was taking advantage of the United States. They made most of their money because of Americans, because the US had never charged them anything. Later it became even more direct. Switzerland was only good because of the United States, Trump said about his host country. Some in the audience audibly gasped. And then the revelation: last year he had raised tariffs on Switzerland after a phone call with the country’s president had angered him. She had touched him wrong, he said. What European officials had long suspected was now confirmed - trade policy as personal vendetta.

Canada’s new prime minister Mark Carney had spoken the day before in Davos of a global political fault line and called for greater cooperation among middle powers. Trump responded sharply. Canada received many gifts from the United States and should be grateful. Carney apparently had not been grateful. Canada existed only because of the United States, Trump said. Mark should remember that the next time he made such statements. Again, gasps could be heard from the audience.

NATO got its share as well. Trump doubted that the alliance would defend the United States if it were attacked. NATO partners had activated Article 5 of the founding treaty - an attack on one is an attack on all - only once in history: after the attacks of September 11, 2001. For the United States. Trump also complained about the Federal Reserve. Officials would change once they had the job, raise interest rates and not talk to him about rates. A few chuckles in the audience - many present were financial experts and knew that this is exactly how the Fed is designed. Independent of the White House, so it can set rates to control inflation without political pressure. Trump hinted that he had already chosen a new Fed chair. It was a man.

Venezuela would look great, Trump said. Every major oil company would enter the country with the United States. Yet Exxon Mobil CEO Darren Woods had recently said at a White House meeting that the Venezuelan market in its current condition was not investable. Trump blamed inflation on his predecessor Joe Biden. Food prices had fallen under his leadership, he claimed. In reality, they had risen more slowly, but not fallen.

On the topic of Somalis in Minnesota, Trump said something that even drew a few boos from the front of the audience. In the fraud cases in the state’s Somali community, it had emerged that Somalis had a higher IQ than expected. The Somali American community of about 80,000 people in Minnesota suffers reputational damage from these fraud cases. Trump has long targeted this community. California Governor Gavin Newsom was a good guy he used to get along with, Trump said. On the same day, Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent had called Newsom smug and said he looked like Patrick Bateman meets Sparkle Beach Ken. Bessent announced investigations into fraud in California.

Then finally: Greenland. Trump said he had wanted to skip the topic, but that would have been taken negatively. The audience laughed - nervously. He had great respect for the people of Greenland and Denmark, but every NATO partner had a duty to defend its own territory. No nation other than the United States could secure Greenland. Germany had invaded Denmark in World War II, the United States had defended Greenland and then returned it. America had been stupid. Denmark was ungrateful.

The enormous, unsecured structure was part of North America, Trump said. It was American territory. A piece of ice, cold and badly located, that could play an important role in world peace. A very small request. The United States had sent troops to Greenland in World War II and then returned it - a historically false account. The United States never possessed sovereignty over Greenland. Denmark signed an agreement in 1941 allowing the US to defend Greenland, but never to take it over.

“After the war, we gave Greenland back to Denmark. How stupid were we to do that? But we did it. And how ungrateful are they now?”

He called for immediate negotiations. Greenland lay undefended at a strategically important position between the United States, Russia and China. Denmark had promised to spend more than $200 million on Greenland’s defense, but had spent less than one percent of that. This referred to a pledge from 2019 during his first term. Copenhagen had not denied that implementation was slow. In recent weeks, Denmark’s defense minister had presented an expanded defense plan with a budget of $2 billion - three new ships, long range drones, more satellite capacity. Trump did not mention this.

European leaders could say yes to Greenland and America would be grateful, Trump said. Or they could say no and the United States would remember. But then came the surprising turn: he would probably get nothing unless he decided to use excessive force, where the United States would be unstoppable. But he would not do that. That was probably the most important statement, because people thought he would use violence. He did not need to use violence. He did not want to use violence. He would not use violence. All the United States wanted was a place called Greenland.

The room fell silent. When Trump attacked NATO and said he did not believe the alliance would defend the United States in the future, there were audible gasps. When he joked about Emmanuel Macron - with the sunglasses from the previous day - there was restrained laughter. Then he told how Macron and others had bowed to his wishes after he threatened tariffs on French wine and other goods. Four times Trump confused Greenland with Iceland. The stock market had seen its first drop yesterday because of Iceland, he said. Iceland had already cost them a lot of money. He had made the same mistake the day before at a White House press conference.

Trump confuses Iceland with Greenland:

“I help NATO, and until a few days ago, when I told them about Iceland, they loved me. They called me Daddy. A very smart man said he was our Daddy. Our stock market had its first drop yesterday because of Iceland. Iceland has already cost us a lot of money.”

NATO Secretary General Mark Rutte, who was sitting in the audience, suddenly praised Trump. Rutte had said earlier that day on a panel that the danger was focusing too much on Greenland. The main issue was not Greenland, but Ukraine. Trump again claimed before the audience in Davos that the 2020 election had been rigged. Russia’s war against Ukraine would not have begun if the election had not been rigged. The 2020 election was not stolen. Biden received 306 electoral votes, Trump 232. Trump’s claims of massive election fraud have been largely debunked. People would soon be criminally prosecuted for what they had done, he added. What he meant by that remained unclear.

He said he would meet President Zelenskyy today. He might be in the audience. Zelenskyy had canceled his trip to Davos to deal with damage to the country’s energy and heating infrastructure after Russian attacks. Outside the congress center, distant shouts from protesters could be heard. The words were not intelligible, but the angry opposition to Trump was clear. Markets remained largely unmoved during the speech. After a sharp drop on Tuesday, stock and bond markets were calm in the morning. Futures on the S&P 500 were roughly unchanged for the day.

Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent sat in the audience. Trump said he hoped Bessent was listening. Most countries would not function without the United States. Bessent had helped implement Trump’s tariff policy. Trump spoke only briefly about housing construction, which his advisers had announced for weeks as the focus of the speech. He mentioned an executive order - officially announced the day before - intended to prevent Wall Street investors from buying single family homes. The order essentially said that agencies should develop a plan within the next 60 days.

The Supreme Court is close to deciding on the constitutionality of one of the key tools Trump uses to impose tariffs unilaterally. The decision could soon undermine his threats. According to our information, a ruling is expected around February 20, 2026.

What became clear in this speech: Trump feels restrained on the world stage by nothing but himself. In Davos, he showed how emboldened he feels - by attacking NATO in front of alliance members and essentially demanding that a sovereign territory be handed over to the United States. He confirmed the fears many world leaders had before this speech: that the United States is prepared to sacrifice allies and partnerships for territorial expansion and power games.

What became clear in this speech: Trump feels restrained on the world stage by nothing but himself. In Davos, he showed how emboldened he feels - by attacking NATO in front of alliance members and essentially demanding that a sovereign territory be handed over to the United States. He confirmed the fears many world leaders had before this speech: that the United States is prepared to sacrifice allies and partnerships for territorial expansion and power games.