Macron takes aim at ‘bully’ Trump as EU leaders ramp up response to president’s threats

Just hours before Mr Trump is expected to arrive at the World Economic Forum (WEF) in Davos to face international leaders, Mr Macron warned: “We prefer respect to bullies, we prefer science to conspiracies, and we prefer the rule of law to brutality.”

The unprecedented breakdown of relations between the US and its Western European allies comes as Mr Trump launched a blistering attack on the UK's plans to hand over the Chagos Islands to Mauritius as one of “great stupidity” – despite publicly welcoming the deal last year.

Former Nato secretary general, Anders Rasmussen, a former prime minister of Denmark, warned that the Nato alliance, which has underpinned Western security since the end of the Second World War, is now on the brink of collapse because of Trump’s behaviour.

He told Times Radio: “It’s extremely serious. Actually, if that threat [taking over Greenland] comes to fruition, it will be the end of Nato. It doesn’t make sense to have a collective defence organisation where the major ally attacks another ally with the aim to take territory. So it would be the end of Nato.”

Sir Keir Starmer’s hopes that the UK could act as a bridge between America and Europe appeared to have evaporated after Mr Trump lashed out at the prime minister’s “stupid” deal to cede the Chagos Islands to Mauritius.

The prime minister’s closest lieutenant, chancellor of the Duchy of Lancaster, Darren Jones, insisted Sir Keir’s approach to Mr Trump was yielding results, but admitted: “It’s not normal for geopolitical discussions to be handled in this way.”

The crisis has proven to be the biggest strain on the special relationship between the UK and the US since Harold Wilson refused to send British troops to Vietnam in the 1960s.

But Sir Keir risked igniting Trump’s rage further by agreeing to the new Chinese super embassy to be built in Royal Mint Court near the Tower of London despite MI5 warning that security risks could not be ruled out.

With anger growing in Switzerland ahead of President Trump touching down in the Alpine resort, EU leaders made it clear that they will deploy the toughest economic response possible to Trump’s threat of tariffs.

President Macron called for EU leaders to use the bloc’s so-called “big bazooka” of economic countermeasures.

“The anti-coercion mechanism is a powerful instrument, and we should not hesitate to deploy it in today's tough environment,” he said.

Meanwhile, European Commission president Ursula von der Leyen used her WEF speech to warn Trump that the EU’s response “will be unflinching, united and proportional”.

She said when “friends shake on a deal, we expect them to honour the deal”.

But members of the Trump administration already in Davos were unapologetic about Mr Trump tearing up international rules and norms.

In a frosty moment on a panel with UK chancellor Rachel Reeves, Mr Trump’s commerce secretary Howard Lutnick said he was at the event to make the point that “globalisation has failed the West”.

He said: “When America shines, the world shines”, but added that a world without the US “gets dark pretty quickly”.

Mr Lutnick later tried to reassure Ms Reeves that the US still loves its allies in the wake of the Greenland threat, saying: “We love you, we do”, to which Ms Reeves responded, “thank you very much, the feeling is mutual”.

The awkward exchange came after the UK chancellor had urged the US to “think of how your allies can also help you achieve your objectives as well as helping all of the Western world to thrive”.

But Democratic California governor Gavin Newsom urged Europe’s leaders to “stop the bull****” and “stand up to Trump”.

French foreign minister Jean-Noel Barrot, meanwhile, told his parliament that France supports the suspension of a trade deal between the EU and the United States, given Washington’s ongoing “threat” of tariffs.

“The threat of customs duties [is] being used as blackmail to obtain unjustifiable concessions,” Mr Barrot said, adding the European Commission has “very powerful instruments” to respond to Mr Trump’s threats.

European Union’s foreign policy chief Kaja Kallas said the bloc would hold its ground on Greenland despite growing US pressure. She stressed that the tariffs threatened by Mr Trump on goods from Europe would undermine the prosperity of both the EU and the US.

Addressing the European Parliament, Ms Kallas said Greenland’s geostrategic importance had increased recently, stressing the Nato alliance was well-suited to deal with the security of the island.

Meanwhile, senior Republicans have sought to try to mend relationships with their allies. Mike Johnson, speaker of the US House of Representatives and an ally of Mr Trump, who is visiting London, said his mission was to “help calm the waters”.

In a speech to MPs and peers in Westminster on Tuesday, he said he agreed with Sir Keir’s approach of finding a resolution.

“We’ve always been able to work through our differences calmly as friends. We will continue to do that. I want to assure you this morning that that is still the case,” Mr Johnson said.

“I spoke to President Trump at length yesterday, and I told him that I really felt that my mission here – that even though we planned this back in the fall – we didn't know how the events would develop over the last few days.

“But I told the president that I felt that my mission here today was to encourage our friends and help calm the waters.”