Europe is not heading in the right direction
US President Donald Trump said on Wednesday that parts of Europe are no longer recognized and that the continent is “not moving in the right direction.”
In his highly anticipated speech at the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland, Trump praised what he described as economic growth in the United States that “no other country has ever seen before.”
“My friends come from different places — I don’t mean to insult anyone — and they say, ‘I don’t know.’ That’s not in a positive way, it’s in a very negative way,” Trump said.
“I love Europe and I want to see Europe getting better, but it’s not going in the right direction.”
His speech came after he condemned global leaders’ aggressive approach to annexing Greenland and said he would “immediately” open negotiations on Greenland.
Market participants and many U.S. allies, including Davos, had been alarmed by its position in Greenland.
Trump used his speech to rule out military force; this was something he had previously refused to do when asked.
The US president said he believes “deeply” in the bond his administration shares with Europe.
“That’s why issues like energy, trade, immigration and economic growth should be the primary concerns of anyone who wants to see a strong and united West, because Europe and these countries have to do their part,” Trump said.
“They need to step out of the culture they’ve created over the last 10 years. What they’re doing to themselves is terrible. They’re destroying themselves, they’re destroying these beautiful, beautiful places.”
“We want strong allies, not seriously weakened ones. We want Europe to be strong. After all, these are issues of national security, and perhaps no current issue illustrates the situation more clearly than what is happening in Greenland right now.”
Trump vs. Carney
Trump, who has long advocated making the Arctic island a part of the United States, has previously He insists there is “no return” on buying from Denmark. He threatened to impose a wave of increasing tariffs on eight European countries if they continued to oppose his plans.
The US president’s increasingly aggressive Greenland rhetoric has increased trans-Atlantic tensions, with French President Emmanuel Macron warning of a transition to a “world without rules” and Trump condemning “tyrants” without mentioning them by name.
Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney speaks at the 56th annual World Economic Forum (WEF) meeting in Davos, Switzerland, on January 20, 2026.
Denis Balibouse | Reuters
Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney told Davos on Tuesday that “the old order will not come back” and warned that “nostalgia is not a strategy.”
Carney said the new order was “a system that intensifies great power competition, in which the most powerful pursue their interests by using economic integration as coercion.”
Trump took exception to Carney’s comments in his speech. “Meanwhile, Canada is getting a lot of free money from us. They should be grateful too, but they’re not. I watched your prime minister yesterday. He wasn’t that grateful,” he said.
“Canada lives because of the United States of America. Remember that next time you make a statement, Mark.”
