The world order is in the “midst of a rupture”, leaders have warned – telling how international law is being “trampled underfoot” and “imperial ambitions are resurfacing”.
The row over the US President Donald Trump’s desire to annex Greenland – and his ongoing rhetoric along with his threats to impose tariffs – is dominating the agenda at the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland.
There is also concern across Latin America with Mr Trump’s efforts to seize Venezuela’s oil.
In Davos, the American leader said: “I love Europe and I want to see Europe go good, but it’s not heading in the right direction.”
And in reference to Greenland, he said: “This enormous unsecured island is actually part of North America. That’s our territory.”
But world leaders believe “rules-based order is fading” and there’s a shift to a new era “without rules”.
Davos latest – US says it won’t use force over Greenland
‘We live in an era of great-power rivalry’
Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney headed home from Davos without meeting Mr Trump – and said the world is “in the midst of a rupture, not a transition”.
He added: “Every day we’re reminded that we live in an era of great-power rivalry.
“That the rules-based order is fading. That the strong can do what they can, and the weak must suffer what they must.”
He warned the “middle powers must act together because if we’re not at the table, we’re on the menu”.
“There is a strong tendency for countries to go along to get along,” he said. “To accommodate. To avoid trouble. To hope that compliance will buy safety. It won’t.
“Great powers have begun using economic integration as weapons, tariffs as leverage, financial infrastructure as coercion, supply chains as vulnerabilities to be exploited.”
‘Imperial ambitions are resurfacing’
French President Emmanuel Macron said: “It’s a 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.”
He denounced competition from the US “through trade agreements that undermine our export interests, demand maximum concessions”.
Such moves “openly aim to weaken and subordinate Europe”, said Mr Macron, and when combined with an “endless accumulation of new tariffs that are fundamentally unacceptable” they are used as “leverage against territorial sovereignty”.
‘Time to build a new Europe’
European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen said it was time to “build a new independent Europe” and any diplomatic “downward spiral” in the West would only embolden its adversaries.
“The proposed additional tariffs are a mistake, especially between long-standing allies,” she said.
“My point is: if this change is permanent, then Europe must change permanently too. It is time to seize this opportunity and build a new independent Europe.
“We consider the people of the United States not just our allies, but our friends.
“And plunging us into a downward spiral would only aid the very adversaries we are both so committed to keeping out of the strategic landscape.”
In a speech in the European Parliament, she added: “We are at a crossroads. Europe prefers dialogue and solutions – but we are fully prepared to act, if necessary, with unity, urgency and determination.
“In this increasingly lawless world, Europe needs its own levers of power.”
