US President Donald Trump has trolled European leaders with an AI image of them looking at a map showing Greenland as US territory in the Oval Office.
It comes as Trump prepares to travel to Davos, Switzerland to meet global leaders at the World Economic Forum (WEF), as tensions run high over his controversial plan to take over the Nato territory.
The photo, posted on the President’s Truth Social platform, shows leaders including Britain’s Prime Minister Sir Keir Starmer, France’s President Emmanuel Macron and Italy’s Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni gathered around Trump’s desk.
European leaders have expressed their objection to the US President’s demands to take control of Greenland, prompting Trump to threaten the nations with new tariffs if they stand in his way.
Amid an increasingly acrimonious trans-Atlantic row, the President announced on his Truth Social platform over the weekend that from February 1, the US would impose a 10 per cent tariff on all exports from Denmark, Finland, France, Germany, the Netherlands, Norway, Sweden and the UK – increasing it to 25 per cent in June.
The EU are now weighing up whether to deploy their so-called trade ‘bazooka’ for the first time in retaliation, an economic tool that would hit the US with £81 billion in tariffs.
‘Europe won’t be blackmailed,’ Denmark’s Prime Minister Mette Frederiksen said in response to Trump’s tariff threats, after EU leaders signed a joint statement warning of a ‘dangerous downward spiral’ in the event of a trade war between the transatlantic allies.
Trump also posted a text exchange he shared with the Secretary General of Nato, Mark Rutte, during which the official wrote: ‘I am committed to finding a way forward on Greenland. Can’t wait to see you. Yours, Mark.’
US President Donald Trump has trolled European leaders with an AI image of them looking at a map showing Greenland as US territory
Trump also posted a text exchange he shared with the Secretary General of Nato, Mark Rutte
‘I am committed to finding a way forward on Greenland. Can’t wait to see you. Yours, Mark,’ the official wrote to the US President
Trump is expected to arrive on Wednesday in the Swiss mountain resort of Davos, where he is due to deliver a special address.
Business leaders, including CEOs in financial services, crypto and consulting, were invited to a reception after Trump’s address to the WEF’s annual meeting, sources told Reuters on Monday. The agenda was unclear.
One CEO simply had ‘a reception in honour of President Donald J Trump’ scheduled in their diary, while another said their understanding was that global CEOs had been invited, not just those from the United States. One of the sources said the invitations had come from the White House.
The WEF agenda has to some extent been overtaken by the US President’s dramatic policy moves, including his demand in recent days that the US take over Greenland.
Certain EU leaders have issued a strong response following Trump’s tariff threats to member states, while others have called for calm and diplomatic solutions to the potential trade row.
‘We will not allow ourselves to be blackmailed,’ said Lars Klingbeil, Germany’s vice chancellor, at a press conference in Berlin alongside French Economy Minister Roland Lescure.
‘Europe will respond with a united, clear response, and we are now preparing countermeasures together with our European partners.’
Meanwhile, Starmer said a trade war is in ‘no-one’s interest’ during a speech from Downing Street on Monday, adding that the use of tariffs against allies was ‘not the right way to resolve differences’.
A text from French President Emmanuel Macron sent to Donald Trump
Trump has previously threatened to hit France with a 200 percent tariff on champagne
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Trump threatens to slap 200 percent tariff on French wines as president leaks text from Macron
Trump threatened to hit France with a 200 per cent tariff on champagne and wine Monday night before leaking a text message from President Macron that said: ‘I do not understand what you are doing on Greenland.’
The outburst took place after the college football championship game in Miami, when reporters asked the US President about Macron rejecting Trump’s invitation to join his so-called Board of Peace.
Macron had said ‘at this stage’ he was not planning on serving on Trump board, which is intended to create the second phase of the Gaza peace plan.
‘Well, nobody wants him because he’s going to be out of office very soon,’ Trump responded when asked about Macron’s rejection.
Trump then to escalated his threat of a trade war with Europe.
‘What I’ll do is, if they feel hostile, I’ll put a 200 per cent tariff on his wines and champagnes and he’ll join,’ Trump said before boarding a flight to Washington. ‘But he doesn’t have to join.’
Later Monday night, Trump revealed a text message he received from Macron where the French leader explained some of his differences and similarities to Trump on policy.
‘My friend, we are totally in line on Syria. We can do great things on Iran,’ Macron wrote. ‘I do not understand what you are doing on Greenland. Let us try to build great things.’
In the text, Macron promised to assemble a G7 following the World Economic Forum in Davos and asked Trump to have dinner with him in Paris on Thursday before he returns to the US.
People bear Greenlandic flags and placards that read ‘Greenland Is Not For Sale’ as they gather in front of the US consulate to protest against President Donald Trump plans for Greenland on January 17, 2026 in Nuuk, Greenland
During his social media rampage, Trump also criticised Starmer, describing the UK’s plan to hand over sovereignty of the Chagos Islands to Mauritius is an ‘an act of GREAT STUPIDITY’.
He wrote: ‘Shockingly, our “brilliant” NATO Ally, the United Kingdom, is currently planning to give away the Island of Diego Garcia, the site of a vital U.S. Military Base, to Mauritius, and to do so FOR NO REASON WHATSOEVER.’
Trump said the deal – in which the UK would lease a military base on the territory, while handing over sovereignty – justifies his demand to seize Greenland.
