Nato chief urges ‘thoughtful diplomacy’ after US treasury secretary’s jibe at Denmark
Donald Trump has landed in Switzerland for the Davos global gathering as Nato’s secretary general said “thoughtful diplomacy” was the only way to deal with growing transatlantic tensions, remarks that came shortly after the US treasury secretary had dismissed Denmark as an irrelevance.The US president’s threats to seize Greenland, a largely self-governing part of Denmark, risk tearing the transatlantic alliance apart, while his promise to impose tariffs on European nations who oppose him could trigger a trade war with the EU.Speaking at the World Economic Forum in the Swiss town on Wednesday, Nato’s Mark Rutte said that there were “tensions at the moment” but that talks, and a concerted drive to bolster Arctic security, were the only ways forward.He dismissed fears that the Greenland crisis could unravel the 76-year-old alliance, and pushed back at repeated comments from Trump casting doubt on whether its European members would help to defend the US if asked, saying: “They will.”Speaking on the sidelines of the forum, the US treasury secretary, Scott Bessent, earlier dismissed Denmark as “irrelevant” and brushed aside claims that European investors, such as Denmark’s pension funds, might pull out of the US market.
Bessent said the size of Denmark’s investment in US Treasury bonds, “like Denmark itself, is irrelevant … It is less than $100m [£75m].I’m not concerned at all.”He described as “inflammatory” statements on Tuesday by the French president, Emmanuel Macron, who said Europe preferred “respect to bullies” and “the rule of law to brutality”, and Ursula von der Leyen, president of the European Commission, who promised an “unflinching” tariff response.“If this is all President Macron has to do when the French budget is in shambles, I would suggest he focuses on other things for the French people,” Bessent said.He urged leaders in Davos not to show “reflexive anger” and “bitterness”.
Trump, whose arrival in Davos was delayed by a “minor electrical issue” with his presidential jet, was expected to face a tough reception from angry European leaders in the ski resort but said overnight that he thought “we will work something out”.Von der Leyen said on Wednesday that the EU had to get faster and stronger in a world now defined by “raw power”.The spat between allies over Greenland would only embolden geopolitical rivals, she said.“The shift in the international order is not only seismic, but it is permanent,” von der Leyen told the European parliament.“While many of us may not like it, we must deal with the world as it is now … We need a departure from Europe’s traditional caution.
”The commission chief, who is not due to meet Trump in Davos, said Europe was “at a crossroads”, adding that the 27-nation bloc “prefers dialogue and solutions – but we are fully prepared to act, if necessary, with unity, urgency and determination”.Trump has repeatedly said the US needs to take control of Greenland for “national security”, despite the US already having a military base on the island and a bilateral agreement with Denmark allowing it to massively expand its presence there.The Finnish president, Alexander Stubb, told a Davos audience that he believed a diplomatic solution could be found.There were “curveballs flying in different types of directions”, he said, but: “I think at the end of the day, we’ll find an off-ramp.”Trump has threatened to impose a 10% tariff on imports from Denmark, Norway, Sweden, France, Germany, the UK, the Netherlands and Finland unless they drop their objections to his Greenland plans, prompting EU leaders to consider retaliation.
The commission’s deputy chief spokesperson, Olof Gill, said on Wednesday that the EU was continuing trade conversations with Washington at the “technical and political levels” because “it is time for engagement not escalation”.But the European parliament is expected on Wednesday to suspend ratification of a EU-US trade deal sealed in July.Other options include a package of tariffs on €93bn (£80bn) of US imports or the bloc’s “big bazooka”, its “anti-coercion instrument”.Separately, the governor of California, Gavin Newsom, responded to Bessent’s claim that he was smug, self-absorbed and economically illiterate.Newsom said: “I’m in his head.
”Newsom – a plausible candidate to be the Democratic candidate in 2028 – picked out the Canadian prime minister, Mark Carney, von der Leyen and Macron for praise, telling reporters: “I was very pleased to hear Prime Minister Carney’s remarks yesterday, the EU president’s remarks were powerful, and Macron’s.”
The Guide #226: SPOILER ALERT! It’s never been easier to avoid having your favourite show ruined
Don’t be alarmed by the image above. I can assure you that this newsletter features no spoilers for the current season of The Traitors. We won’t be discussing the shocking departure of REDACTED, or the nefarious actions of EXPUNGED, or the fact that CENSORED is the wife/half-brother/hairdresser of NAME REMOVED. Relax, you are in a hermetically sealed Traitors safe space here.Indeed, what has gradually dawned on me while watching this latest series is how relatively straightforward avoiding spoilers has been
From 28 Years Later: The Bone Temple to A$AP Rocky: your complete entertainment guide to the week ahead
Another visit to the UK’s putrid zombie aftermath, and the polymath rapper returns after eight years with a collb-packed blockbuster28 Years Later: The Bone TempleOut nowIt would have been hard to imagine in 2002 that 28 Days Later would spawn something so different (and that’s probably a good thing; who wants identikit sequels?). The post-apocalyptic UK is now almost unrecognisable in this Nia DaCosta-directed, Alex Garland-scripted instalment, with violent tribes competing for scant resources.Rental FamilyOut now In this Japan-set drama from director Hikari, Brendan Fraser plays an actor hoping to land a decent role after appearing in a hit toothpaste commercial. He is hired by a company that provides family stand-ins for events, leading to some unexpectedly genuine connections.The Voice of Hind RajabOut nowUsing real audio footage, this Gaza-set film dramatises the death of six-year-old Hind Rajab, who was trapped on the phone for three hours in a car surrounded by six relatives killed by Israeli forces, only to be shot dead herself, after soldiers fired 335 rounds of ammunition into the car and the ambulance that came to collect the little girl, also killing two paramedics
Jimmy Kimmel on the midterms: ‘We can’t have an election soon enough’
Late-night hosts covered alarming new comments by Donald Trump as well as his outburst at a heckler in Michigan.On Jimmy Kimmel Live! the host said that in the first two weeks of 2026, “all hell has broken loose” and “if this was Jenga, there’d be blocks of wood all over the house.”He spoke about Trump threatening to invoke the Insurrection Act as a result of his ICE officers causing chaos in Minneapolis. Kimmel joked that “he hasn’t been able to get an insurrection for years”.The host said that instead of trying to de-escalate the situation, he is doing the opposite and that “he turns the temperature up on everything but his wife
Civilised but casual, often hilarious, Adelaide writers’ week is everything a festival should be – except this year | Tory Shepherd
The sun almost always shines on Adelaide writers’ week, held on Kaurna land each year at the tail end of summer.For those who start looking forward to it as soon as soon as the Christmas tree is packed away (or earlier, frankly) there’s a sense of loss, of betrayal, at the omnishambles that has led to its cancellation this year.We’re bereft, and angry – not least because some of the most vocal critics seem to have no idea what writers’ week actually is.During Adelaide’s Mad March, the city’s parklands are home to the festival fringe’s sprawling performance spaces, bars and restaurants. On a Sunday you might leave behind the carnival chaos of the Garden of Unearthly Delights
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The Chilean film-maker’s psychedelic work earned him the title ‘king of the midnight movie’, and a fan in John Lennon. Now the 96-year-old is ready for the end – but first there is more living to doThe Guardian’s journalism is independent. We will earn a commission if you buy something through an affiliate link. Learn more.There is an apocryphal story of an ageing Orson Welles introducing himself to the guests at a half-empty town hall
Call this social cohesion? The war of words that laid waste to the 2026 Adelaide writers’ festival
How a boardroom flare-up sparked an international boycott – and a looming defamation battleIt began as a quiet programming dispute in the genteel city of churches.But by Wednesday morning, a frantic, six-day war of words had culminated in the end of the 2026 Adelaide writers’ week and total institutional collapse.What started with the discreet exit of a business titan and arts board veteran spiralled into boardroom carnage last weekend, with mass resignations, lawyers’ letters of demands and allegations of racism and hypocrisy flung by all sides.By the time the writers’ week director, Louise Adler, walked, the boycott of writers, commentators and academics had gone global and the state’s premier cultural event had become a hollowed-out shell.The cancellation of AWW may only be the opening act
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