Emmanuel Macron is pushing back against Donald Trump’s “bully” tactics and “crazy ideas.”
The French president took the stage at the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland, sporting Top Gun-style sunglasses and delivering a sharply worded message after Trump, 79, threatened new tariffs on European allies who oppose his plan to wrench Greenland away from Denmark.
“Let’s not be divided, let’s not accept the global order which will be decided by those who claim to have the bigger voice, or the bigger teeth, or the bigger... I don’t know,” Macron, 48, said Tuesday morning.
“Let’s be coordinated. Let’s not waste time with crazy ideas.”
Macron also took a swipe at the “bullies” on the world stage.
“We do prefer respect to bullies. We do prefer science to politicism. And we prefer the rule of law to brutality,” Macron said.
He warned that the international order is sliding away from the rule of law and toward a world of “instability and imbalance,” where “conflict has been normalized.”
“Having a place like Europe—which is predictable, loyal, and where you know the rule of the game is the rule of law—is a good place,” he added, in a thinly veiled jab at the United States.
The remarks came after Trump floated 200 percent tariffs on French wine and Champagne, part of a broader barrage of trade threats that European officials have warned could trigger a “dangerous downward spiral” in transatlantic relations.
Macron infuriated Trump by rejecting his invitation to join his so-called “Board of Peace,” and publicly opposed his threat to impose tariffs on eight European nations unless the U.S. secures what Trump has described as the “complete and total purchase” of Greenland.’
Trump retaliated by posting a screenshot of a private text message from Macron to Truth Social—a message French officials later confirmed as authentic.
“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.
“Let us try to build great things. I can set up a G7 meeting after Davos in Paris… Let us have a dinner together in Paris before you go back to the U.S. Emmanuel.”
“They’re saying, ‘Oh gee, let’s have dinner, let’s do this, let’s do that.’ It just made my point,” Trump told the New York Post Tuesday morning.
European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen also pushed back against Trump in Davos on Tuesday, vowing that Europe’s response to his repeated threats would be “unflinching.”
Trump is set to arrive in the Swiss economic hub on Wednesday, where demonstrations erupted earlier this week. Protesters carried signs reading “Trump Not Welcome” and “Put Trumpster in the Dumpster.”
Police intervened as protests grew rowdy, with three officers injured by fireworks and stones. Public transport was briefly disrupted near Zurich’s main train station, Hauptbahnhof, during a sit-in protest.
The Daily Beast has reached out to the White House for comment.
