Belgian Prime Minister Bart De Wever said the US is crossing read lines in its handling of the Greenland issue and that it could herald the end of an era.
At the World Economic Forum in Davos today, De Wever said US claims on Greenland risked destroying 80 years of Atlanticism.
“Until now, we have tried to accommodate the new President [Donald Trump],” the Belgian PM said.
“We have been very lenient, for example on trade tariffs. We were lenient in the hope of gaining his support for the war in Ukraine.
“But now so many red lines have been crossed that you have to choose your self-respect. Being a happy vassal is one thing. Being an unhappy slave is something else entirely,” he said.
“The pressure he put on the allies was, until now, somewhat rationally explainable: we were not spending enough on defence. He had a point there,” De Wever added.
“But threatening NATO allies with military intervention on NATO territory is so unprecedented that we are really approaching a breaking point.
“We will discuss the issue on Thursday at the European Council but it seems obvious to me that the knife must now be put on the table,’ he said.
“It will be one against all, but also all against one as far as I am concerned.”
De Wever stressed that if the US wanted to be seen as an ally, it had to act like one.
“A trade war would be catastrophic, but equally so for the US as for Europe,” he concluded, stating that Trump must take into account the domestic mid-term elections later this year.
De Wever is set to meet Trump in Davos, together with the Belgian King, Filip.
The Belgian PM said that Europe must send a clear message that the US is “crossing red lines”.
“Either we stand together, or we stand divided. And if we are divided, it will mean the end of an era. Eighty years of Atlanticism will then truly come to an end,” De Wever said.
“As Gramsci said: ‘When the old is dying and the new is not yet born, you live in a time of monsters”, and it is up to him to decide whether he wants to be a monster — yes or no.”
He warned that Europe needs to “wake up and rearm” for the new emerging world order, as it “cannot stay a herbivore”.
De Wever noted: “We’ve been accustomed to very nice Presidents like Obama, and we haven’t noticed that the shift in America is not bound to one presidency. It’s a structural shift. The face of America has turned to the Pacific.
“Their backside is turned to the Atlantic. And that will not change after Trump. It’s a structural thing.”
Earlier in Davos, European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen warned business leaders to let go of “nostalgia”, noting that it “will not bring back the old order” and urging them to focus on building a more independent Europe instead.
She said US tariffs against European allies would be “a mistake” and could send the relations into a “downward spiral”.
Von der Leyen promised that the European Union will respond in a “determined, united and proportionate” manner to the US threats concerning Greenland.
In the Danish Parliament, Danish PM Mette Fredriksen said in case of a trade war, Europe should respond.
“We have never sought any conflicts,” she stressed.
COMMENT: If Europe wishes to survive as an independent centre of power and civilisation in a multipolar world, it must itself become a pole. De Gaulle knew this. Europe chose to forget it, writes @rpintoborges. https://t.co/5rDb4VnPtM
— Brussels Signal (@brusselssignal) January 13, 2026
