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Macron warns of ‘world without rules’ after Trump shares texts from European leaders
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Macron warns of ‘world without rules’ after Trump shares texts from European leaders

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French President Emmanuel Macron says Europe will not give in to bullies or be intimidated, in scathing criticism of US President Donald Trump’s threat to impose high tariffs if Europe does not allow him to take over Greenland.
While other European leaders have tried to take a measured tone to avoid escalating the transatlantic dispute, Macron came out swinging.
France and Europe will not “passively accept the law of the strongest,” Macron said overnight at the World Economic Forum in Davos, adding that to do otherwise would lead to their “vassalization.”

Instead, he said, Europe will continue to stand up for territorial sovereignty and the rule of law, despite what he called a shift towards a world without rules. That would mean the EU would respond with its own steep trade sanctions.

‘I prefer respect over bullies’

“We prefer respect to bullies,” Macron said. “And we choose the rule of law over cruelty.”

He delivered the speech after Trump threatened high tariffs on French wine and champagne and posted private messages from Macron, an unusual breach of diplomatic discretion.

Trump had already promised on Saturday that he would impose a wave of rising tariffs on several European allies, including France, from February 1 until the US is allowed to acquire Greenland, a move that major EU countries described as blackmail.

Washington’s “endless accumulation” of new tariffs is “fundamentally unacceptable,” Macron said in Davos, “and even more so if they are used as leverage against territorial sovereignty.”

What will Europe do?

EU leaders decided to meet in Brussels on Thursday evening this weekend for an emergency summit on Greenland.
Tariffs on 93 billion euros of US goods, which the EU set aside when Trump struck a trade deal with the bloc last summer, could come into effect on February 6.

Macron has urged the EU to also consider the first use of its anti-coercion tool, informally known as the “trade bazooka”, which could limit US access to public procurement or restrict trade in services such as technology platforms. Macron said it was “crazy” that it had gone this far.

200 percent tariff on wines and champagnes

The US president’s relationship with Europe as a whole has been deeply soured by his drive to wrest sovereignty over the Arctic island from fellow NATO member Denmark, throwing European industry into turmoil and sending shockwaves through financial markets.
Trump has also taken offense at France’s unwillingness to join a proposed Council of Peace, a new international organization he would lead. Paris has expressed concern about its impact on the role of the United Nations.

When asked about Macron’s position in the Council of Peace, Trump said late Monday: “I will put a 200 percent tariff on his wines and champagnes, and he will join, but he doesn’t have to join.”

Trump publishes private messages

A few hours later, Trump published a screenshot of a conversation with Macron on his Truth Social account.
In the exchange, which a source close to Macron said was authentic, Macron told Trump: “I don’t understand what you are doing in Greenland” and offered to organize a G7 meeting, inviting Russia and others. Neither Trump nor the French source disclosed the date of the messages.
Trump also revealed a private text message from NATO Secretary General Mark Rutte, in which he thanked the former Dutch prime minister.
Rutte, who famously called Trump “daddy” at a NATO summit last year, said in the message that he was “determined to find a way forward in Greenland.”

“I can’t wait to see you,” the NATO chief added.

No meeting between Trump and Macron planned in Davos

Macron confirmed he has no plans to extend his stay in Davos until Wednesday, when Trump arrives at the Swiss mountain resort.
“I don’t need to change my schedule,” he said, adding that he had long been scheduled to leave in the evening.

Macron, who will leave office in mid-2027, has been president of France since 2017. His relationship with Trump has had its ups and downs since Trump’s first term, with Macron alternating between flattery and harsher rhetoric.

The world order is “in the midst of a rupture,” says Carney

Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney said the US-led global governance system is undergoing “a rupture” defined by great power competition and a “fading” rules-based order.
Carney delivered his stirring speech to political and financial elites at the World Economic Forum, a day before Trump was due to address the meeting in Davos.

Since entering Canadian politics last year, Carney has repeatedly warned that the world would not return to pre-Trump normalcy.

He reaffirmed that message on Tuesday (local time) in a speech that did not mention Trump by name but offered analysis of the president’s impact on global affairs.
“We are in the middle of a breakup, not a transition,” Carney said.
He noted that Canada had benefited from the old “rules-based international order,” including “American hegemony” that “helped provide public goods: open sea lanes, a stable financial system, collective security, and support for dispute resolution frameworks.”
A new reality has emerged, Carney said.
“Call it what it is: a system of intensifying great power rivalry, with the most powerful pursuing their interests and using economic integration as coercion.”

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