Donald Trump has warned European leaders there is ‘no going back’ on his threats to take control of Greenland, ahead of a meeting in Davos, Switzerland.
The Air Force One plane carrying President Donald Trump to his showdown with European leaders in Davos U-turned and returned to base this morning after developing an electrical fault.
What was already expected to be a day of high drama in Switzerland got off to a chaotic start with the US delegation forced to switch planes and restart their journey hours behind schedule.
The President is now travelling towards Europe on another aircraft.
The stony-faced President was seen boarding the original Air Force One late on Tuesday night, heading for the Swiss town for the annual World Economic Forum.
He promised an ‘interesting’ trip, telling reporters he believed it would be ‘very successful’ despite weeks of friction with Nato allies over his demands to take over Greenland.
His trip to the Alpine resort comes after Mr Trump was dubbed a ‘bully’ over his attempts to acquire the strategic Arctic island from Denmark, with many warning such moves risked plunging US ties with the European Union into a ‘downward spiral’.
However an hour into the journey with the Boeing 747 over the Atlantic, crew opted to turn around back to Joint Base Andrews following what was termed ‘a minor electrical issue’.
White House officials later played down the mid-air scare, saying the decision to return to Maryland was taken out of an ‘abundance of caution’ and stressing the electrical problem was minor.
When he was asked on Tuesday at a lengthy White House briefing about how far he was willing to go to get the country, the Republican leader said: ‘You’ll find out.’
During the briefing, Mr Trump also firmly told Sir Keir Starmer to ‘straighten out’ the UK, claiming London has ‘a lot of problems’.
He also blasted French President Emmanuel Macron, saying: ‘They’ve got to straighten out their countries – you look at London, it’s having a lot of problems and if you look at Paris, got a lot of problems.’
Mr Trump said both Britain and France face problems with immigration and energy, and called on the UK to stop the use of windmills and instead use gas and oil from the North Sea.
Donald Trump boarded Air Force One for Davos, Switzerland, on Tuesday night
He is jetting across the world for a showdown with European leaders after his countless threats to seize Greenland – and clashes with allies
He promised an ‘interesting’ trip, telling reporters he believed it would be a ‘very successful trip’ and touted that the ‘country’s never done better’
When he was asked on Tuesday at a lengthy White House briefing about how far he was willing to go to get the country, the Republican leader said: ‘You’ll find out’
After boarding Air Force One to start his journey across the Atlantic, he reiterated the point on Truth Social.
‘America will be well represented in Davos – by me. GOD BLESS YOU ALL! PRESIDENT DONALD J. TRUMP,’ the President wrote.
Earlier on Tuesday, Mr Trump had lashed out at the British Prime Minister after he vowed to press ahead with his controversial £30billion giveaway of the Chagos Islands, despite the US leader branding it an ‘act of great stupidity’.
Starmer ordered Labour MPs to push through legislation on the deal last night, saying that the United States continued to support a plan which Mr Trump said demonstrated ‘total weakness’.
Mr Trump, who nodded through the deal last year, stunned ministers yesterday by savaging Labour’s decision to hand the islands to China ally Mauritius.
In a furious post on his Truth Social platform, he wrote: ‘Shockingly, our ‘brilliant’ NATO Ally, the United Kingdom, is currently planning to give away the Island of Diego Garcia, the site of a vital US Military Base, to Mauritius, and to do so FOR NO REASON WHATSOEVER.
‘There is no doubt that China and Russia have noticed this act of total weakness.’
He highlighted the decision as a reason for his pursuit of Greenland, writing: ‘The UK giving away extremely important land is an act of GREAT STUPIDITY, and is another in a very long line of National Security reasons why Greenland has to be acquired.’
And last night he reiterated his opposition to the deal. Mr Trump told reporters: ‘When they [the UK] were originally going to do it they were talking about doing some concept of ownership. But now they’re looking to essentially do a lease and sell it.
‘I’m against that. It’s nothing like Greenland but it’s a reasonably important area of the globe.
‘I think they should keep it. I don’t know why they don’t – do they need money?’
Under the terms of the agreement, the UK will lease back Diego Garcia (pictured) for 99 years at a cost that could top £30billion
Pat McFadden, a close ally of the PM, said he didn’t believe the row was about Chagos; rather, it was about Greenland, he said
US President Donald Trump speaks during a press briefing at the White House, on the one-year mark into his second term in office, in Washington, DC, January 20
Downing Street yesterday played down the row, pointing to comments by work and pensions secretary Pat McFadden, who said Mr Trump was venting ‘frustration’ at opposition to his bid to seize Greenland.
Mr McFadden, a close ally of the PM, said: ‘I think what we saw last night was a series of posts criticising a number of world leaders. That may tell us that the President is frustrated right now.
‘I don’t really believe this is about Chagos, I think it’s about Greenland, and the best way to resolve that is through dialogue with the Danish government, and that’s what we’ve said all along.’
Under the terms of the agreement, the UK will lease back Diego Garcia for 99 years at a cost that could top £30billion. But critics of the deal lined up to urge the PM to think again.
Kemi Badenoch said President Trump was ‘right on the issue’. The Tory leader told the BBC: ‘There is no reason whatsoever that we should be surrendering British territory with a strategic military base on it, and paying £35billion in reparations to say sorry to Mauritius. It’s crazy.
‘The only people who benefit are Russia and China. It is a stupid idea, and Keir Starmer on this is completely wrong.’
Shadow foreign secretary Dame Priti Patel urged ministers to heed Mr Trump’s advice and abandon legislation to cement the deal. She said the US President had offered Labour a ‘last chance’ to avoid an ‘act of self-harm’.
Former Tory leader Sir Iain Duncan Smith said hostile states like Russia, China and Iran were ‘laughing at us’.
The US administration approved the deal last year, with Secretary of State Marco Rubio saying it ‘secures the long-term, stable and effective operation of the joint US-UK military facility at Diego Garcia, which is critical to regional and global security’.
But critics believe the risks were never properly explained to Mr Trump.
The Daily Mail revealed this month that exiled Chagos Islanders had made a last-ditch plea to Mr Trump to intervene – and even offered to name an island after him if he blocked the plan.
In a letter to the US President, the islanders’ First Minister Misley Mandarin warned that the ‘very bad deal’ would ‘put at risk’ the joint military base.
He warned that the deal, brokered by Sir Keir’s national security adviser Jonathan Powell, could give China ‘leverage’ over the base, which is seen as a military asset.
Mauritius, he said, ‘would hold sovereignty over every inch of the US base’.
Reform UK sources suggested that Nigel Farage’s lobbying may also have contributed to the President’s change of mind.
Mr Farage said: ‘The Americans have woken up to the fact that they were lied to. They were told that the UK had no choice but to surrender the Chagos Islands. This was simply not true, and now they are angry with us.’
Britain’s then foreign secretary David Lammy last year said Mr Trump had a veto on the deal, adding: ‘If President Trump doesn’t like the deal, the deal will not go forward. And the reason for that is because we have a shared military and intelligence interest with the United States.’
Mr Farage said the US President had now ‘vetoed the surrender’ of the islands.
But Downing Street said the deal would go ahead and ordered Labour MPs to vote down amendments to the legislation put in place by the Lords.
Government sources said they expect the legislation to go through in a matter of weeks.
