"The French president Emmanuel Macron borrowed some lines from Hugh Grant about bullies at the World Economic Forum in Davos. His target was Donald Trump, who had leaked a conciliatory text message from Macron who, evidently, was trying to get the US president to the table to shore up the rapidly disintegrating global order. In the love-it-or-hate-it Christmas film, Love Actually, Grant playing the foppish British prime minister of the day confronts the US president, saying: A friend who bullies us is no longer a friend, and since bullies only respond to strength, from now onward, I will be prepared to be much stronger."
"Macron's text message was about Greenland, which has been at the centre of a classic Trumpian play to use his position to provoke a reaction thereby illustrating his power. His threat to impose tariffs on Denmark, Norway, Sweden, France, Germany, the UK, the Netherlands and Finland because of their opposition to American control of Greenland achieved its aim. Along comes Trump and our emperors have no clothes | John Crace Europe scrambled to respond, considering retaliatory tariffs, increased customs duties and limiting or blocking access to US goods, services or companies. Troops were sent to Greenland. Trump then cited a vague deal with Nato and dropped the tariffs."
"We probably won't get anything unless I decide to use excessive strength and force, where we would be, frankly, unstoppable, Trump said, before adding: But I won't do that. Right. As you were then. But let's be honest: had he acted on his threats on Greenland either economic or military who could have stopped him? We can no longer pretend. The global order is built on trust. The United States, under Donald Trump, cannot be trusted. And removing that lynchpin from the global order is a catastrophe."
Macron invoked a cinematic line about confronting bullies to target Donald Trump over a leaked conciliatory text about Greenland. The Greenland episode exemplified a Trumpian tactic of provoking reactions to display power, including threatened tariffs and implied military options. European states considered retaliatory tariffs, customs measures and restrictions on US companies, and troops were dispatched to Greenland before Trump cited a vague NATO deal and withdrew the tariffs. The episode raises the question of who could have checked unilateral US action. The global order depends on trust, and the United States under Trump is portrayed as an unreliable lynchpin.
Read at www.theguardian.com
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