Trump fumes at Macron over Greenland, Gaza peace board snub, threatens French wine tariff

US president posts texts with French, NATO leaders offering to find solution amid opposition to his ambitions to control Arctic island; says Macron to be ‘out of office very soon’

US President Donald Trump has made a series of online posts and comments apparently designed to humiliate allies France, Britain and Canada as the row over Greenland threatens to engulf the Davos forum, while also taking issue with Paris’s refusal to join his Gaza Board of Peace.

Trump on Tuesday released screen grabs of recent text conversations with French President Emmanuel Macron and NATO Secretary-General Mark Rutte on Iran, Greenland and Syria, on his Truth Social app, amid the tirades.

Rutte told Trump, “What you accomplished today in Syria is incredible,” likely referring to a rather precarious ceasefire signed between Ahmed al-Sharaa’s government and the Kurdish-led Syrian Democratic Forces on Sunday.

Rutte promised Trump that he would highlight to the press at the World Economic Forum in Davos “your work there, in Gaza, and in Ukraine.”

The Dutch politician also told Trump that he is “committed to finding a way forward on Greenland,” the Danish territory that the US president said he is determined to take control of.

“Can’t wait to see you,” the NATO chief added.

Macron told Trump in a text that they “are totally in line on Syria.”

He also said that “we can do great things on Iran,” without elaborating.

Turning to Greenland, Macron said he does not understand what Trump is trying to do with his focus on the island.

Macron offered a diplomatic initiative, in which he would gather the G7 leaders in Paris with the Ukrainians, Danish, Syrians, and Russians on the sidelines. He also invited Trump to dinner in Paris before the president returned to the US.

Trump also posted an altered picture of him meeting European leaders in the Oval Office — with a picture of not only the United States but Canada and Greenland covered in the stars and stripes.

The original photo, taken when European leaders rushed to the White House last August with Ukrainian President Zelensky to prop up US support for Kyiv, had already been mocked in some quarters as a sign of European weakness.

While Trump’s quest to take control of Greenland is the one that has shaken the world at the start of 2026, he has also called for Canada to become the 51st US state.

He followed up on the posts with an image of himself holding the American flag on an icy landscape next to a sign saying “Greenland. US Territory, Est 2026,” accompanied by Vice President JD Vance and Secretary of State Marco Rubio.

Next in Trump’s sights was Britain, whose pride in its “special relationship” with the United States has come under fresh strain from his designs on Greenland.

Trump lashed out at what he called London’s “great stupidity” for its deal to give Mauritius the Chagos Islands, an Indian Ocean archipelago that is home to the key Diego Garcia US-UK military base.

As recently as May, Trump had endorsed the deal after it was signed.

He linked the British decision to his current obsession, saying it was “another in a very long line of National Security reasons why Greenland has to be acquired.”

His comments leave the transatlantic alliance in perhaps its most fragile state since World War II — and underscore that Trump is determined to make a show of power at the meeting in the Swiss ski resort.

It was all in a night’s work for the US president — but it will leave the Europeans scrambling for ways to shore up the transatlantic alliance that has underpinned Western security for the past 80 years

Before posting the messages, Trump expressed his disdain for Macron’s refusal to join his so-called Board of Peace for resolving conflicts worldwide, as their longstanding bromance appeared to implode.

“Nobody wants him because he’s going to be out of office very soon,” Trump told reporters as he prepared to board Air Force One in Florida, before threatening 200 percent tariffs on French wine and champagne.

A number of Western leaders harbor worries that the Board of Peace, originally designed for Gaza, would create a shadow UN, while the inclusion of Russian President Vladimir Putin has caused alarm.

Macron is due in Davos for the day on Tuesday before a scheduled return to Paris in the evening. Elysee aides have said there are no plans to extend his stay to Wednesday, when Trump arrives in the Swiss mountain resort town.

Wines and spirits exported to the United States from the European Union currently face a 15% tariff — a rate the French have been lobbying hard to reduce to zero since Trump and European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen agreed on a US-EU trade deal in Scotland last summer.

The United States is the largest market for French wine and spirits, with shipments at 3.8 billion euros in 2024.

“The fact that we’re getting more threats is going to make the industry harder to invest in, it’s going to make it harder for companies to make decisions for their own investments,” said Laurence Whyatt, head of European beverages research at Barclays.

“They will have to be more reserved, keep a bit of cash back, not invest, because they need to be able to weather the storms as and when they come.”

Shares in luxury conglomerate LVMH, which owns major champagne producers including Moet & Chandon, were down 2% in early trading.

“These declarations by the President of the United States must be taken seriously but with composure,” Gabriel Picard, chairman of the French wine and spirits export lobby FEVS, said in a statement.

The issue must be handled at the European level, in a united and coordinated way, the association said.

France’s wine and spirits industry suffered a 20%-25% hit to its US business in the second half of last year after previous tariff measures, Picard had told Reuters on Monday, before the latest threat.

A Macron aide said the Elysee took note of Trump’s remarks and stressed that tariff threats to influence a third party’s foreign policy were unacceptable.