President Trump touted the accomplishments of his first year back as the U.S. leader on Tuesday ahead of a trip to Switzerland to confront a hostile, or at least befuddled, crowd of European leaders furious over his plans to annex Greenland.
He took over the White House briefing on the first anniversary of his inauguration for a second term.
Not one to cede the limelight, Mr. Trump took the White House podium to face the media between a late-night jaunt to the college football championship on Monday and his departure for high-stakes meetings at the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland.
“That’s a lot of people, that’s like a record,” Mr. Trump said, plopping down a list of achievements on the lectern. “We have a lot of accomplishments. And you know, this is the anniversary, first anniversary.”
Across the Atlantic, European leaders on Tuesday said the world is backsliding into a might-makes-right system and that cycles of geopolitical and economic upheaval were counterproductive, as Mr. Trump weighs new tariffs on eight European nations over their defense of a Denmark-controlled Greenland.
European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen said the European Union would be “unflinching, united and proportional” in its response to any trade crackdown from Mr. Trump.
“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,” she said.
Mr. Trump says Danish control of Greenland is not a big enough deterrent to countries like China and Russia. He will lay out that case during Davos meetings this week.
The president is defending his one-year record weeks after a daring raid to capture Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro. He was flown to New York to face narco-terrorism charges.
Mr. Trump says he is protecting the Western Hemisphere from China, Russia and other outside forces in a kind of “Don-roe Doctrine.”
Efforts to annex Greenland are part of that.
He also says 2026 will be a banner year, domestically, as his economic agenda results in bigger tax refunds and job-creating projects.
The Democratic National Committee said Mr. Trump has failed to produce his promised manufacturing boom or corral everyday costs, so voters will punish him this November.
“Republicans should be prepared to face the consequences in the midterms because our Democratic candidates are listening and ready to step up, and what we’re hearing is that voters are fed up, pissed off, and sick of Trump’s BS,” DNC Chairman Ken Martin said.
