To no-one\u2019s surprise, the soggy handwringing retreat that is the World Economic Forum in the alpine town of Davos has been upstaged by a 79-year-old Reality TV Star, who used the platform to lobby Europe to sell him the largest island on earth, a place that boasts more boats than cars.<\/p>\n
As far as bizarre sideshows go, Donald Trump\u2019s efforts to guzzle Greenland are something few would have predicted last year, not least because his track record when it comes to managing properties isn\u2019t the strongest.\u00a0<\/p>\n
If you\u2019ve had six chapter 11 bankruptcies in consumer-friendly jurisdictions such as Atlantic City and New Jersey, you\u2019d imagine that Greenland \u2013 a country of 56,000 people, 80% covered in ice, with an ironic name gifted to it by one of Iceland\u2019s most famous murderers, Erik the Red, in 982 CE \u2013 would be a far harder commercial proposition.<\/p>\n
Over the weekend, the Reality TV Star threatened to impose tariffs of up to 25% on eight European nations that don\u2019t support his annexation of Greenland, saying he would follow-through \u201c100%\u201d on this threat. Two days later, shortly after a foggy 70-minute speech that had dementia experts nodding in that knowing way, he said: \u201cI will not be imposing tariffs.\u201d<\/p>\n
That speech was fabulous thigh-slapping theatre. It really got the crowd chuckling, for instance, as he repeatedly confused Greenland and Iceland, saying that the New York Stock Exchange \u201ctook the first dip yesterday because of Iceland\u201d, and adding that European leaders had \u201cloved\u201d him until \u201cI told them about Iceland\u201d. All grand slapstick in the tradition of \u201cThe Naked Emperor\u201d.<\/p>\n
In one overflow room in Davos, there were \u201cguffaws when Trump talked about wind farms killing birds\u201d, according to journalists from AFP, who said that after about an hour the novelty began to wear off. \u201cHe\u2019s a nutcase,\u201d one executive said as he left the room.<\/p>\n
\u2018Make America Go Away\u2019<\/p>\n
Some killjoys didn\u2019t see the humour. \u201cWe\u2019re in the business of democracy, we\u2019re not in the business of mergers and acquisitions,\u201d Swedish energy minister Ebba Busch said stiffly, adding that \u201cwe will not be blackmailed\u201d by the threat of tariffs.\u00a0<\/p>\n
The Reality TV Star justified his giddying U-turn on tariffs by saying the \u201cframework of a future deal\u201d around Greenland had been struck between him and North Atlantic Treaty Organisation secretary-general Mark Rutte, a man f\u00eated in his native Netherlands for being a \u201cTrump-whisperer\u201d.\u00a0<\/p>\n
Thanks to Rutte, it seems he won\u2019t take a crowbar to Europe\u2019s economy after all.<\/p>\n
This \u201cbreakthrough\u201d was news to Denmark\u2019s Prime Minister Mette Frederiksen, who said demurely that such a deal is \u201cnot the case\u201d. Asked whether Greenland would remain part of Denmark after this so-called \u201cdeal\u201d, Rutte said \u201cthat issue did not come up\u201d in any of the talks. Some \u201cframework\u201d then, excluding the object of the deal from the term sheet.<\/p>\n
Unsettling and confusing, the sabre rattling has left European investors bemused. Danish pension fund AkademikerPension, for one, said this week it plans to sell $100m in US bonds, while Greenland\u2019s only pension fund, SISA Pension, said it is debating whether to dump US equities as a symbolic stand against the US.<\/p>\n
This didn\u2019t go down well with the Reality TV Star, who told Fox News that if the Europeans ditch American assets, \u201cthere would be a big retaliation on our part \u2026 and we have all the cards\u201d.<\/p>\n
Perhaps he should consider diverting part of his country\u2019s considerable fiscal firepower to investing in a Copenhagen vintage shop run by Jesper Rabe Tonnesen, who has done a roaring trade in MAGA-styled baseball caps adorned with the words \u201cNu det Nuuk\u201d, referencing Greenland\u2019s capital, alongside the words \u201cMake America Go Away\u201d.\u00a0<\/p>\n
Tonnesen told ABC News that he can\u2019t keep up with the influx of orders for his caps \u2013 which have been worn at demonstrations in Denmark and Greenland in recent days, protesting America\u2019s carnal intent towards the island (not Iceland). \u201cWe started to realise this probably wasn\u2019t a joke \u2013 it\u2019s not reality TV, it\u2019s actually reality,\u201d said Tonnesen.\u00a0<\/p>\n
Others have got in on the action too, with caps bearing the words \u201cMake America Smart Again\u201d also selling widely.<\/p>\n
ADD bonanza<\/p>\n
With territorial M&A occupying pretty much all the headlines, you have to ask if anything else of any consequence happened in Davos?<\/p>\n
Well, on Thursday, Bryanston High alumnus Elon Musk \u2013 who once derided Davos as \u201cboring\u201d and its attendees as \u201ctrying to be the boss of earth\u201d \u2013 spent a breezy half-hour demonstrating the power of functional attention deficit disorder to BlackRock CEO Larry Fink.\u00a0<\/p>\n
Musk veered from describing how, by the end of next year, humanoid robots would be in people\u2019s homes, to discussing how it is \u201chighly likely\u201d that, at some point, humans will be able to reverse ageing \u2013 even if this isn\u2019t always desirable.<\/p>\n
Oh, and aliens \u2013 \u201cI think if anyone were to know if there were aliens among us, it would be me,\u201d he said. (In other words, there are no aliens around, maybe except for him.)<\/p>\n
Lurching to AI, Musk said the only limitation on its potential is electrical power. By some time later this year, he said, it\u2019s likely that there\u2019ll be more chips being produced than there is electrical energy to turn them on.<\/p>\n
Solar energy is the answer to this power crunch, he said \u2013 but the US has been slow to tap into this energy source properly because the tariffs imposed on Chinese panels have meant \u201cthe economics of deploying solar are artificially high\u201d.<\/p>\n
As a final thought, he added: \u201cI\u2019ve been asked a few times, do I want to die on Mars? I say, yes \u2013 just not on impact.\u201d<\/p>\n
With so much free entertainment, however would a country like South Africa \u2013 which wanted to use this traditional forum of collegial soft-soaping of elite bankers to make its investment case \u2013 get any attention for its serious message?<\/p>\n
Unhelpfully, the first time South Africa made the headlines was when the Reality TV Star defended his bogus claim that there is a \u201cwhite genocide\u201d happening in South Africa. \u201cWe\u2019ve seen the numbers, we\u2019ve seen the records, and it is taking place,\u201d he said.\u00a0<\/p>\n
With uncharacteristic, if unintentional, accuracy, he then described the so-called genocide as \u201cunbelievable \u2013 you wouldn\u2019t think it could happen today\u201d.<\/p>\n
Well, quite. \u201cUnbelievable\u201d is the closest he has yet got to the truth on this particular topic.\u00a0<\/p>\n
A good story \u2013 if anyone is watching<\/p>\n
The country\u2019s delegation has marshalled its charm offensive from South Africa House \u2013 a 225m space on Davos\u2019s 49 Promenade with big banners in the windows \u2013 with the team led by finance minister Enoch Godongwana, international relations and co-operation minister Ronald Lamola, trade, industry and competition minister Parks Tau and tourism minister Patricia de Lille.<\/p>\n
They did at least have a good story to tell. Last November, Standard & Poor\u2019s delivered the country\u2019s first sovereign rating upgrade in two decades. But more critically, the country can now say it has had more than 300 days without blackouts \u2013 a powerful rejoinder to the argument, persistent from about 2009 to last year, that even if someone wanted to invest, the country didn\u2019t have the energy to make this happen.\u00a0<\/p>\n
On Thursday afternoon, one panel focused entirely on South Africa, where those ministers spoke soothingly of how the country still wants to work with everyone, including America. Discussions around tariffs with the US are \u201congoing\u201d, Tau said, while adding that efforts to find new trade partners in Southeast Asia and across Africa to insulate the country from the tariffs have gone swimmingly.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe are in a good space,\u201d said Reserve Bank governor Lesetja Kganyago in one interview from Davos. \u201cWe now can show that over a period of three years that fiscal consolidation is on course.\u201d<\/p>\n
Kganyago, perhaps the South Africa official with the most credibility, spoke of how GDP growth this year is expected to be 1.4%, which sounds modest, but it\u2019s far above the past few years. \u201cWe have had a long period where growth potential of South Africa has been eroded, and we have rebuilt that,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n
Brand South Africa\u2019s CEO Neville Matjie said the view of South Africa has improved exponentially. \u201cEveryone wants to look at South Africa, they want to do business with South Africa \u2013 the geopolitics has actually forced us closer together,\u201d he told Newzroom Afrika.<\/p>\n
Evidently, none of South Africa\u2019s new friends appear to have asked about the country\u2019s hapless policing \u2013 the 62 murders every day, the 10,000 police with criminal records, and the diminishment of the police service to being little more than glorified first responders for the insurance industry. But maybe that\u2019s for 2027.\u00a0<\/p>\n
There is a \u201cSouth Africa Night\u201d at Davos too, billed as a \u201cwine and golf sector experience\u201d, perhaps leveraging off President Cyril Ramaphosa\u2019s surprising diplomatic success in dragging golfers like Ernie Els and Retief Goosen to the White House in May.\u00a0<\/p>\n
Whether this will achieve anything is up for debate. One CEO told this journalist that he felt the Davos event was hugely helpful, but more because he was able to hold a number of important meetings at the Alpine town in hotel rooms and makeshift offices with funders whom he would otherwise struggle to tie down.\u00a0 <\/p>\n
This underscores the true value of Davos: enforced proximity to business contacts, where the temperature is likely to induce cuddling more frequently than the average Zoom call. With the occasional dash of reality TV on the side.<\/p>\n
ALSO READ:<\/p>\n
Top image: Kevin\u00a0Dietsch\/Getty Images; Rawpixel\/Currency collage.<\/p>\n
EMAILS AWOL? HAVE YOU CHECKED YOUR SPAM?<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"To no-one\u2019s surprise, the soggy handwringing retreat that is the World Economic Forum in the alpine town of…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":259492,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[11],"tags":[72,120986,969,113,44178,61,60,126761],"class_list":["post-259491","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-economy","tag-business","tag-davos","tag-donald-trump","tag-economy","tag-geopolitics","tag-ie","tag-ireland","tag-wef"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/259491","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=259491"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/259491\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/259492"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=259491"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=259491"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=259491"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}