DAVOS, Switzerland — President Trump will depart for Davos on Tuesday feeling more confident than ever in his own power to shape global events and more willing to bully and berate anyone who stands in his way.
Why it matters: In recent weeks, Trump has shown he's no longer content just dominating the U.S. and the news cycle — he wants to dominate the world.
The big picture: Trump is heading to Switzerland after threatening tariffs on Denmark and seven other NATO allies — all of whom sent small detachments of troops to Greenland — if no deal is reached to hand the island to the U.S. by Feb. 1.
- While in Davos, he'll announce he's expanding the remit of his "Board of Peace" for Gaza beyond the enclave, in what some alarmed allies see as an attempt to establish a rival UN Security Council — with Trump holding the only veto.
- "The Board of Peace is not going to be limited to Gaza. It's a Board of Peace around the world," a senior U.S. official told Axios.
- "The president is focused on our hemisphere first, but he has his eye on the world. I wouldn't say he's fixated on global domination. He's America first. And America is still the world's leader," the official said.
- Trump's advisers say he's been emboldened in particular by the swift capture of Venezuela's Nicolás Maduro. "We're holding our breath, but it's definitely freed up the president even more to project power around the world," one top adviser said.
Driving the news: Overnight, Trump posted memes of himself claiming Greenland and Canada, private text messages from French President Emmanuel Macron and NATO Secretary General Mark Rutte, and fresh messages on why the U.S. must have Greenland.
- "The message [in Davos] is how incredible our country is doing," Trump told reporters.
Between the lines: Until recently, U.S. allies expected Trump's main contributions in Davos to be announcing the board for Gaza and signing a reconstruction deal for Ukraine.
- Instead, they've found themselves scrambling ahead of his arrival, debating how to contain a crisis over Greenland that threatens to rupture NATO. European officials "had to shred their Ukraine talking points and write new ones on Greenland," a Ukrainian official told Axios.
- Trump set the tone for the week when he texted the Norwegian prime minister stating that because he didn't get the Nobel Prize, he'll no longer focus primarily on peace. The U.S. later put the note on official letterhead and sent it to NATO ambassadors, as first reported by PBS.
- A senior Norwegian official said Oslo had intended to keep the text exchange private, and was surprised Trump shared it with other countries.
The other side: The Europeans are signaling they're prepared to hit back, setting up what could be a highly contentious week in the Swiss Alps.
- EU countries are considering a massive package of retaliatory tariffs. Meanwhile, Denmark is sending additional troops to Greenland.
- In conversations on day one at Davos, some attendees expressed skepticism that the Europeans could match Trump punch for punch. "I'm taking the under on European fortitude," one American Davos veteran quipped.
- At various panels ahead of Trump's arrival — none of which had anything to do with Arctic security — there were remarks and nervous laughter about the prospect of an American invasion.
The Greenland dispute pushed aside plans to use Davos week to reach understandings between the U.S., Ukraine and the European powers on security guarantees and reconstruction for Ukraine.
- A Ukrainian official said a plan for the leaders to sign the "prosperity plan" was scrapped. A U.S. official denied any date had been set and said the plan still needed some work.
- Trump still plans to meet Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky and several European leaders, but a U.S. official said not to expect any breakthroughs.
Meanwhile, Trump's envoys Steve Witkoff and Jared Kushner plan to meet Russian envoy Kirill Dmitriev in Davos on Tuesday to discuss Ukraine.
- Dmitriev and other Kremlin officials praised Trump on Monday for his Greenland push. Moscow also said Trump had invited President Vladimir Putin to join the Board of Peace.
The intrigue: Trump plans to host an event on Thursday to launch the board, which he will chair and is officially designed to oversee the reconstruction of Gaza.
- But the charter drafted by the White House gives Trump veto power over all decisions.
- "This is not what we signed up for in Sharm el-Sheikh," a senior European official said, referring to the summit in Egypt after the Gaza ceasefire was announced.
- France announced it wouldn't accept Trump's invitation to join the board at this stage, and several other European countries expressed deep skepticism. However, countries including Morocco, Qatar and Indonesia agreed to join.
- Trump invited 58 leaders in total, the senior U.S. official said.
The latest: Trump told reporters that "nobody wants" Macron anyways "because he will be out of office very soon." He predicted the French president would join once "I will put 20% tariff on his wines and Champagnes... but he doesn't have to."
- Hours later, he posted private text messages apparently from Macron, in which the French leader said: "We are totally in line on Syria. We can do great things on Iran. I don't understand what you are doing on Greenland."
- In the texts, Macron proposed a G7 leaders summit in Paris on Thursday after Davos, "with the Ukrainians, Danish, Syrians and Russians on the margins." He added: "Let us have a dinner together in Paris before you go back to the U.S."
- Next, Trump said he'd agreed to "a meeting of the various parties" on Greenland in Davos during a "very good" call with Rutte. He added an obsequious text in which Rutte praised Trump's leadership and said he was "committed to finding a way forward on Greenland.
The intrigue: Trump signaled a potential softening on his tariff threat on Monday night when he told reporters the countries he was threatening with tariffs had only "sent a few people" to Greenland.
- But he later wrote on Truth Social that there was "no going back," posted an image of himself planting an American flag in Greenland, and mocked the U.K. for "planning to give away" one if its own overseas territories, Diego Garcia.
- That "act of GREAT STUPIDITY" is "another in a very long line of National Security reasons why Greenland has to be acquired," Trump wrote.
What to watch: The senior U.S. official suggested attendees of the annual gathering of the global elite should prepare to be insulted when Trump takes the podium on Wednesday.
- "In the same way that he went to the UN and said, 'You people charge a lot of dues, occupy a bunch of real estate, really don't do anything,' he's going to probably say that about some subset of those at Davos."
- "He feels he settled all these conflicts — and, yes, some of them are backsliding — without the UN. Without any real help from them."
- As for the Board of Peace, "I suspect he'll infer that it is the foil to the UN," the official said. "But you never know what you're going to get with a Donald Trump speech until he gives it."
