“It’s the opportunity to have a rules-based trading bloc of one and a half billion people with complementary economies, and also provides a basis potentially for further expansion out of that,” the prime minister said. The CPTPP trade bloc includes Canada, the U.K., Japan, Australia, Mexico, New Zealand, Vietnam, Singapore, Malaysia and other Pacific nations. … Read more
What Kristersson’s comments lay bare is the lasting damage done to relations between many European governments and the U.S. after Trump’s demands to take “ownership” of the island away from Sweden’s neighbor Denmark. “For very obvious reasons, trust took a hit, no doubt,” Kristersson said this week, shortly before traveling to the Munich Security Conference. … Read more
But in practice, “the threat hasn’t changed since the Cold War,” said Friis, the professor. The U.S. can easily upgrade its early-warning missile radar system in Greenland, he argued, while melting ice will only boost the very marginal commercial shipping route in the Northern Sea Route near Russia — nowhere near Greenland. Icebreakers have few … Read more
The Parliament froze ratification of the agreement, signed by Trump and European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen in July, after the U.S. president threatened tariffs on European allies backing Greenland. Lead negotiators will meet Feb. 4 to decide next steps, the Parliament’s International Trade Committee Chair Bernd Lange said. At the meeting, lawmakers broadly … Read more
Speaking after the summit, European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen suggested the leaders had learned the lesson this week that standing up to Trump in a “firm” but “non-escalatory” way was an effective strategy that they should continue. EU leaders called the emergency summit in response to Trump’s threat to hit eight European countries … Read more
While on Wednesday Trump backtracked on his administration’s threats, saying he will not take Greenland by force and would suspend his tariff threats, powerful right-wing figures in the continent’s capitals and core EU institutions have already shifted their narrative to adapt to the transatlantic hostility, mimicking the centrist leaders they loathe and dialing up the … Read more
The contradiction points to a deliberate strategy: exploiting the crisis to weaken Western unity while keeping Trump focused elsewhere. In the weeks since Trump captured Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro and threatened to intervene in Iran, Russia appears to have set aside its other geopolitical ambitions, including in the Arctic, to keep Washington in its corner … Read more
MEP Nicola Procaccini, Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni’s right-hand man in the European Parliament, added: “We have to avoid the escalations.” Three diplomats POLITICO spoke with said the tool was still being considered — but as a last-resort option that requires more consideration within capitals. Ambassadors on Monday relayed a growing resolve to hit back … Read more
Trump announced the establishment of the board — which he touted as “the Greatest and Most Prestigious Board ever assembled at any time, any place” — on Friday as a key part of his 20-point plan to end the war between Israel and Hamas. The committee, chaired by Trump, will oversee the transitional governance of … Read more
Ventura’s ability to secure almost a quarter of the ballots Sunday emphasizes how remarkable his Chega party’s growth has been in Portugal. In six years the ultranationalist grouping has gone from having just one lawmaker in parliament to becoming the country’s leading opposition party, controlling more than a quarter of seats in the country’s legislature. Portugal is … Read more