Trump's Greenland agenda causes "rupture" at Davos

President Trump gave himself high marks. And I think Greenland is going very well. It's in negotiation.

On his flight home from Davos, the Swiss Alps resort, where for five days, the summit of interest is not the slopes but the gathering of world and business leaders. So we want a piece of ice for world protection, and they won't give it.

Mr. Trump put another snowy place, Greenland, on the agenda with America's desire to buy the self-governed territory, which is part of Denmark.

They have a choice. You can say yes, and we will be very appreciative. Or you can say no, and we will remember. What I saw in Davos in Switzerland was bafflement, bewilderment, and ultimately profound concern about the crisis that had been created over Greenland.

Shashank Joshi is defense editor at The Economist. Were you in the room for that speech? I couldn't get in the room. The room was rammed. There were people fighting their way in, which tells you something I think about the draw that President Trump still has, the dominance he exerts in Europe.

The Trump administration had briefly threatened tariffs on eight European countries unless a deal on Greenland was done and initially raised the prospect of military action. People thought I would use force. I don't have to use force. I don't want to use force. I won't use force. The very fact that military force had been left on the table for so long was a really unusual and disturbing thing for Europeans. We are in the midst of a rupture, not a transition.

Canada's Prime Minister Mark Carney warned of the breakdown of longstanding alliances. Call it what it is, a system of intensifying great power rivalry where the most powerful pursue their interests using economic integration as coercion.

European leaders held an emergency summit and have pushed back, warning that economic retaliation is an option. The reason so many here in Europe are rocked by talk of rupture in these relations is that these alliances remain central for security and prosperity. Are we at a turning point? Is that possible that things can't reset? I think that we are at a turning point. Look, the transatlantic alliance is too big, too complicated, too significant to unwind in weeks or months. It's going to be with us for years to come. Europe still needs America to defend the continent, but trust is now gone. The mood has, I think, permanently shifted this time.