Trump’s jibes are wearing thin for many European leaders

“If we hadn’t, now you’d all be speaking German,” President Donald Trump told his audience at the World Economic Forum in the Swiss Alps on Wednesday.

He may have forgotten that German is the most widely spoken of Switzerland’s four official languages.

Many people – from Brussels to Berlin to Paris – found his speech insulting, harsh and inaccurate.

In this, he presented the idea that Europe is careering on the wrong path. That’s a theme that Trump often explores, but it has a different effect when delivered on European soil in the faces of supposed friends and allies.

There is no doubt great relief throughout Europe that the US president ordered the use of military force to take Greenland at the Davos forum.

But, even if he keeps his promise, the fundamental problem remains that he wants a plot that the owners say will not be sold.

“What is clear after this speech is that the president’s ambition remains intact,” Danish Foreign Minister Lars Løkke Rasmussen told reporters in Copenhagen.

He said Trump’s comments about the military were “positive for isolation”.

Thousands of miles from Davos in Nuuk, the capital of Greenland, government officials have unveiled a new brochure giving advice to residents on what to do in the event of a “crisis” in the territory.

Self-Sufficiency Minister Peter Borg said the document was “an insurance policy”. He said the Greenland government did not expect to use it.

Crucially, there was no suggestion in Trump’s speech of any escalation of his current threat hit eight European countries – he considers most guilty of thwarting his Arctic ambitions – with new tariffs.

The proposed 10% tax that should start from 1 February was not mentioned.

Any hope in Europe that President Trump could end this transatlantic crisis was crushed as he began to outline his uncompromising argument for taking over the island.

He dismissed Europe’s insistence that Greenland is a sovereign EU territory and framed its acquisition as a perfectly reasonable transaction given the military support the US has provided to the continent for decades.

Trump insisted the US was wrong to “give back” Greenland after it was captured during World War II.

Greenland has never been part of the United States.

Trump returned to his familiar refrain that European members of NATO have done nothing for the US.

He shamed Denmark in particular when recalling how in 1940 it “fell to Germany after only six hours of fighting and was completely unable to defend itself or Greenland”.

Trump’s military history lesson fails to remember that the Danes were a key partner in the US-led invasion of Afghanistan and paid a heavy price.

Denmark lost 44 soldiers, proportionally more than any other ally except the US. They also lost personnel with the US forces in Iraq.

Many other NATO allies supported the US after the 9/11 attacks in 2001.

French President Emmanuel Macron was singled out for the most jibes.

He was mocked for his sunglasses look on Tuesday – he has an eye problem – and his “tough” speech at the podium.

Trump insisted he liked Macron, before continuing: “It’s hard to believe, isn’t it?”

But the whole joke is wearing thin for many European leaders.

They spent a year trying to flatter, flatter and appease the US president and in return were presented with their biggest threat yet.

The European Union met on Thursday in Brussels for an emergency summit, with top European politicians choosing to reach their toughest language in response to US policy.

The ball is now in Europe’s court – are they ramping up the rhetoric of counter-tariffs and flying the The EU’s “trade bazooka”.?

Or do they keep their powder dry and wait until February 1st to see if Trump actually follows through on his latest threat?

At the start of his one-hour and 12-minute meandering speech, President Trump boasted that at home “people are very happy for me”.

After this latest extraordinary round of Trump’s democracy, it’s a sentiment that’s harder to find in Europe that the president claims to love so much.