Gov. Gavin Newsom (D-CA) called European leaders’ efforts at diplomacy with President Donald Trump “embarrassing” in a rant to reporters at the World Economic Forum.
Newsom, a likely 2028 presidential candidate, is slated to speak in Davos on Thursday, one day after Trump gives a special address on Wednesday.
Newsom railed against European leaders on Tuesday for “rolling over” to Trump’s demands, saying if world leaders are nervous about Trump’s threats to acquire Greenland, they need to “have a backbone.” He also specifically hit Venezuelan opposition leader María Corina Machado for presenting her Nobel Peace Prize to Trump, who has been vocal about his belief that he deserved the honor.
“I can’t take this complicity, people rolling over. I should have brought a bunch of knee pads for all the world leaders. I mean, handing out crowns, this is pathetic. Nobel prizes, they’re being given away. I mean, it’s just pathetic,” Newsom said.
Newsom swerved questions about whether the Europeans should respond with their own round of tariffs against the United States and said, “The Europeans should decide for themselves what to do.” However, he emphasized that world leaders cannot continue with their status quo playbook on how to negotiate with the president.
WHAT IS EUROPE’S ‘TRADE BAZOOKA’ BEING FLOATED AS AN ANSWER TO TRUMP’S GREENLAND THREATS?
“This guy’s playing folks for fools, and it’s embarrassing,” Newsom said. “This is diplomacy with Donald Trump? He’s a T. rex. You mate with him, or he devours you. One or the other.”
Newsom has stood as a foil to Trump and his administration’s policies throughout 2025, pushing back against the administration’s handling of immigration enforcement, vaccine policies, and deployment of the National Guard to blue states.
Newsom’s Davos appearance and expected speech take his role to the European stage, as he tries to position himself as an anti-Trump figurehead, directly hitting the president’s policy and diplomacy in front of other world leaders.
The future of Greenland, as Trump threatens to take over the island, and tariffs between the U.S. and Europe are already the major topics this week in Davos. Following Trump’s announcement of new tariffs against European countries that do not support his floated acquisition of Greenland, European leaders threatened to use the “trade bazooka,” or the anti-coercion instrument, in response.
The instrument, threatened by French President Emmanuel Macron, allows Europe to take economic retaliatory action, including tariffs, against a country that uses coercive economic tactics against the European Commission.
Trump posted a firestorm of Truth Social content overnight about the European leaders he will meet in Davos, including a friendly text message from Macron inviting Trump to dinner after the summit.
“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,” Macron wrote in the text message. “Let us try to build great things.”