California Governor Gavin Newsom has launched a blistering attack on European leaders, accusing them of 'complicity' in failing to stand up to US President Donald Trump's demands to buy or annex Greenland. Speaking at the World Economic Forum in Davos on Tuesday, Newsom, a frontrunner for the 2028 Democratic presidential nomination, said Europeans were being 'played' by Trump and described their efforts to negotiate as 'not diplomacy, it's stupidity'.
'It's time to buck up, it's time to get serious and stop being complicit,' Newsom told reporters. 'I can't take this complicity. People rolling over. I should have brought kneepads for all the world leaders … this is pathetic.' The governor regularly suggests that US politicians who cosy up to Trump should be given kneepads, and sells them on his website. The pads, bearing a copy of Trump's signature, are advertised 'for all your groveling to Trump needs' and 'for the low low price of your soul'.
European leaders have been reluctant to risk an open rupture with the US, a major trading partner and security guarantor through Nato. Some have sought to act as 'Trump whisperers' to prevent him withdrawing support for Ukraine or leaving the alliance. However, Trump's demand for Greenland—a semi-autonomous territory of Denmark—and threats of tariffs have prompted confusion, anger, and calls for retaliatory European tariffs.
Newsom's comments came after several European politicians wrote to Trump seeking meetings ahead of the Davos forum. In one letter, Nato Secretary-General Mark Rutte adopted a flattering tone, praising what Trump had 'accomplished in Syria' and expressing commitment to 'finding a way forward on Greenland'. 'Can't wait to see you,' Rutte wrote, a stance Newsom described as 'pathetic'.
