Donald Trump was not there. Not yet. But on Tuesday, January 20, his outbursts, his anger and his obsessions were already haunting the World Economic Forum in Davos, the small Swiss town where representatives of the world’s largest companies and leaders from around the globe gather each year. The Alpine meeting could have served to strengthen the ranks of Kyiv’s allies, nearly four years after the start of the large-scale Russian invasion. In reality, an increasingly open confrontation between Washington and its Western partners dominated the discussions.

From the podium on Tuesday, French President Emmanuel Macron lamented today’s “shift towards a world without rules. Where international law is trampled underfoot,” urging his audience to reject “the law of the strongest.” He condemned what he called “a shift towards autocracy, against democracy,” and described a world in which “conflict has become normalized.” Speaking a day before Trump’s slot, he never pronounced the American president’s name. Nevertheless, the target was clear.

Trump wants to seize Greenland, an autonomous Danish territory rich in minerals and hydrocarbons. Will he have to buy the island, whose ownership he claims in the name of US security? Will he launch a trade war to bring his European critics to heel? Or trigger a military intervention with imperialist overtones? Anything seems possible. Trump is no longer hesitating to attack a Europe he holds in contempt, even at the risk of undermining the transatlantic alliance and 80 years of history.

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