There’s no shortage of monuments to US-German friendship in Berlin, the city most closely associated with the Cold War and America’s leading role in European security.
Those commemorations are rapidly looking like memorials to a bygone age as President Donald Trump takes his wrecking ball to the world order.
German Chancellor Friedrich Merz is among European leaders making their way to the World Economic Forum in Davos today in the hopes of dissuading Trump from doing irreparable damage by seizing Greenland.
Trump’s arrival in Switzerland was postponed by about three hours after Air Force One suffered a technical glitch. That only puts off a confrontation that’s been building for weeks.
After tariffs, threats and insults, Trump’s Greenland play risks an irredeemable breach with Europe. At least during the Cold War, the challenge came from the east, and Washington was the bulwark against Soviet expansion. Under Trump, old certainties have been upended in the name of putting America first.
In his speech to the WEF yesterday, Canada’s Mark Carney declared the rules-based international order to be over and called on middle powers to work together to earn a place at the table, or risk being “on the menu.”
European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen made similar remarks earlier today, telling EU lawmakers that “the shift in the international order is not only seismic — but it is permanent.”
That’s not hyperbole. Canada’s military is war-gaming out an American assault. Greenland’s premier told his people to prepare for possible US invasion. Academics muse whether Russia might now be tempted to seize Norway’s Arctic outpost of Svalbard.
Trump makes no pretense of caring about losing friends and allies. What might yet persuade him to hold back is market volatility: A slump in the dollar and US stocks yesterday prompted Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent to call for calm. Today’s lull saw him go on the attack.
Finland’s president predicts the dispute will be defused before the week’s out.
Whether there’s any transatlantic relationship to speak off by then is questionable. — Alan Crawford