Donald Trump was branded a ‘Very Hungry Caterpillar’ last night for his threats to seize Greenland – hours before a showdown with European allies today.
In a blizzard of social media posts and press statements, the US President suggested he would take the Arctic island from Denmark, leaked embarrassing personal messages from Western leaders and posted provocative AI images of himself conquering the territory.
He said: ‘Look, we have to have it. They can’t protect it.’ He then wrote online: ‘Greenland is imperative for National and World Security. There can be no going back – on that, everyone agrees!’
When asked last night how far he was willing to go to have Greenland, Mr Trump said: ‘You’ll find out.’
As European leaders arrived at the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland, yesterday, Emmanuel Macron hit back against ‘imperial ambitions’.
Due to a ruptured blood vessel in his eye, the French President wore aviator sunglasses. In a fiery speech he said he preferred ‘respect to bullies’ and the ‘rule of law to brutality’.
Belgium’s prime minister gave Mr Trump a sense of the widespread opposition to his ambition for the US to own Greenland – a self-governing Danish territory. Bart De Wever referred to The Very Hungry Caterpillar – a children’s picture book by Eric Carle in which an insect becomes so greedy it gets stomach ache – as he accused Mr Trump of not behaving like an ally.
He said: ‘My feeling is that the sweet-talking is over. You reach the point where sweet-talking and sweet-talking is counterproductive. It only encourages them to go a step further – it’s The Very Hungry Caterpillar.’.
An image posted by US President Donald Trump on Truth Social, where he alluded to his country taking Greenland as its own
Emmanuel Macron hit back at the US leader’s ‘imperial ambitions’ at the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland, yesterday
Mr Trump suggested last night that Nato was ‘overrated’ and weak without the US. He added: ‘We have a lot of meetings scheduled on Greenland… and I think things are going to work out pretty well.’ He said the US and Nato will ‘work something out’ so both are going to be ‘very happy’
Of Greenland, he said: ‘We need it for national security and even world security.’ However, Mr Macron denounced attempts to ‘subordinate Europe’.
He warned: ‘It’s a shift towards a world without rules, where international law is trampled underfoot and… the only law that seems to matter is that of the strongest.’
Mr Trump, who is due to speak in Davos today, has inflamed relations with almost all major allies, threatening tariffs if they do not cede Greenland, and sharing private messages from Nato secretary general Mark Rutte and Mr Macron urging him to back down.
As well as an AI image of him taking Greenland, Mr Trump posted a fake map of the Stars and Stripes over Canada, Greenland, Cuba and Venezuela, prompting calls for King Charles, Canada’s head of state, to cancel his state visit to the US this year.
Mr Trump has reportedly admitted that his desire for Greenland may have been prompted by ‘bad information’ on troop deployments there. But he is doubling down on his calls to make it a US territory.
Some leaders fear he may make support of Ukraine contingent on this, after a £600billion Ukrainian ‘prosperity plan’ US and European leaders had been due to sign in Switzerland was reportedly scrapped. A UK Government source told the Daily Mail: ‘It’s not looking good – we wouldn’t put it past him at the moment.’
Donald Trump meets with Sir Keir Starmer, Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni, European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen, German Chancellor Friedrich Merz, French President Emmanuel Macron, Finnish President Alexander Stubb, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy, and NATO Secretary General Mark Rutte on August 18, 2025
Ukrainian president Volodymyr Zelensky said yesterday he feared the world’s focus was drifting from Russia’s illegal war. Russian foreign minister Sergei Lavrov said: ‘If Greenland is US security then Crimea is Russian security.’
Pierre Collignon, editor of Danish newspaper Berlingske Tidende, said: ‘The US is acting as an enemy. We have to prepare for the completely crazy scenario that Danish soldiers could come into conflict with American invasion forces.’
Danish prime minister Mette Frederiksen said Mr Trump ‘has unfortunately not ruled out the use of military force. Therefore, the rest of us cannot rule it out’.
Alex Vanopslagh, leader of Denmark’s opposition Liberal Alliance party, said: ‘The US is no longer the ally we have known.’
The US has a military base on Greenland, but despite Mr Trump’s fears that China or Russia could take the island, the US has reduced its troops there from 10,000 to just 150.
Additional reporting: Jotam Confino in Copenhagen
