One step forward, two steps back. After his show on stage in Davos, on Wednesday evening, US President Donald Trump attempted to ease the tension by announcing on his social media platform, "Truth," the suspension of tariffs —which were supposed to take effect on February 1st—for European countries that have sent troops to Greenland. The decision, he said, was made "based on a very productive meeting I had with NATO Secretary General Mark Rutte," with whom he defined "the framework for a future agreement regarding Greenland and, in fact, the entire Arctic region. This solution, if implemented, will be excellent for the United States and for all NATO countries."
The details of this "picture" are not made explicit, but the halt to the new retaliatory tariffs has the merit of easing tensions.
"I welcome President Trump's announcement to suspend the imposition of tariffs scheduled for February 1st on some European countries. As Italy has always maintained, it is essential to continue fostering dialogue between allied nations," Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni commented yesterday evening. Meloni had already called the imposition of new tariffs a "mistake" during the recording of "Porta a Porta." The deployment of troops, she told Bruno Vespa, was seen by Washington "as an attack on the United States. I believe it was, instead, an attempt to respond to a need that the Americans also have, and that's why I called Donald Trump and told him, 'I believe the prediction or threat of adding tariffs to those nations that have made this choice is not a mistake.' But part of these problems are due to a lack of communication that needs to be restored."
And if the trade war is now at a standstill, it remains to be seen how much truth there is in Trump's torrent of words on the Davos stage . Almost an hour and 20 minutes of speech mixed domestic politics, defense, energy, national security, and more or less veiled insults to other countries. And, again, tariffs, Ukraine, Iran. From the stage of the World Economic Forum, the tycoon seemed to want to focus on Greenland . , "very vast, underdeveloped, almost totally uninhabited, almost totally undefended, in a strategic position between the United States, China, and Russia," ." No one else. Least of all Denmark, "a small and beautiful country" that, however, "has never done anything."
