French President Emmanuel Macron warned international leaders that “international law is trampled underfoot” in the current world order, urging a shift away from imperialism in his hotly anticipated Davos speech in which he did not directly mention President Donald Trump by name.
Macron shifted into the national political spotlight on Monday as he threatened to use the European Union’s “trade bazooka,” or anti-coercion instrument, in response to Trump’s looming Greenland tariffs. Trump announced the 10% tariffs starting in February on countries that impede his desire to acquire Greenland from NATO ally Denmark. The tariffs would scale up to 25% by June.
Macron took a dig at Trump’s foreign policy strategy regarding Greenland without naming the president in his Tuesday World Economic Forum speech.
“We shift towards a world without rules, where international law is trampled underfoot, and where the only law that seems to matter is that of the strongest, and imperial ambitions are resurfacing,” Macron said.
After joking that the world is at peace, Macron called the current time “very concerning.” He warned that as Russia’s war with Ukraine persists and conflicts “in the Middle East and across Africa” continue, world leaders are “killing” collective governance structures. He took sharp aim at Trump’s threatened tariffs over Greenland in this section of the speech.
“Without collective governance, cooperation gives way to relentless competition. Competition from the United States of America, through trade agreements that undermine our export interests, demand maximum concessions, and openly aim to weaken and subordinate Europe, combined with an endless accumulation of new tariffs that are fundamentally unacceptable, even more so when they are used as leverage against territorial sovereignty,” Macron said.
Trump bashed Macron on Monday night after France was reportedly preparing to turn down Trump’s invitation to join his Board of Peace. Trump told reporters on Monday that Macron is “going to be out of office very soon” and threatened a 200% tariff on French wine and champagne. Later, in the very early hours of Tuesday morning, Trump posted an apparent, friendly text from Macron inviting the president to dinner in Paris for talks.
“My friend, We are totally in line on Syria. We can do great things on Iran. I do not understand what you are doing on Greenland. Let us try to build great things,” Macron wrote in the text.
In his Tuesday speech, Macron said France joined the mutual military training exercise in Greenland “without threatening anyone,” but in support of Denmark. Macron also railed against the notion of threatening tariffs between allies, something in Trump’s playbook, as a policy that “doesn’t make sense.” He also called it “crazy” that the EU could be in the position to implement the trade bazooka.
“The crazy thing is that we can be put in a situation to use the anti-coercion mechanism for the very first time, vis-à-vis the U.S., if they put additional tariffs. Can you imagine that? This is crazy,” Macron said.
NEWSOM RANTS ABOUT EUROPEAN LEADERS ‘ROLLING OVER’ ON TRUMP: ‘HANDING OUT CROWNS’
Trump posted a seemingly AI-generated image of himself, Secretary of State Marco Rubio, and Vice President JD Vance overnight, marking Greenland with an American flag, standing next to a sign that reads “Greenland, US Territory, EST. 2026.”
The White House did not respond to the Washington Examiner‘s request for comment.