Trump Heads to Davos, Asserts New Threats on Greenland, Stock Market Slides

US President Donald Trump is on his way to the World Economic Forum, where he plans to assert new threats over Greenland and negotiate with European leaders.

The World Economic Forum takes place in Davos, a town in eastern Switzerland, each year, which major leaders from various walks of life attend. Examples include presidents and prime ministers, CEOs of large corporations, innovators, journalists, and representatives of other groups like NGOs. In total, over 3,000 high-level individuals are invited to the event each year.

According to the White House, Air Force One – the president's plane – departed from the East Coast on Tuesday but was forced to turn around due to a "minor electrical issue," but Trump has boarded another government plane and will land in Davos three hours later than his scheduled arrival time.

Once there, Trump plans to push his Greenland plans to the numerous European leaders attending, and will reassert his calls for a business deal to purchase Greenland from Denmark. Trump's administration has also refused to rule out the idea of a military takeover.

These statements ignited a strong sense of fear among many American people– if the US were to attack Greenland, every NATO country would be compelled by their treaty to fight back against the US to defend Denmark.

Trump also implemented significant tariffs on eight different European countries over the weekend, sparking further concerns of a possible trade war. The Supreme Court is still deciding whether Trump has legally utilized the International Emergency Economic Powers Act (IEEPA) of 1977 as a basis for these tariffs, and their decision is sure to impact the outcome of any possible trade war.

Due to these rising geopolitical tensions, stock markets were sent plummeting yesterday after opening for the first time since Friday, with the Dow tumbling 871 points, or 1.76%. Meanwhile, the S&P 500 and NASDAQ indexes completely erased their gains on the year so far, dropping by 2.06 and 2.39%, respectively. The VIX, colloquially known as the fear index, spiked by over 5%, sending it near 20 points– a level that signals a strong increase in market volatility.

Experts confirmed that investors had begun to sell US stocks and bonds due to fears of a more volatile market, sending the dollar index plunging by around 0.8%. The euro, on the other hand, was up 0.65% against the dollar, showing a growing wider sentiment towards Europe and away from US markets.

Republicans on Trump's side of the geopolitical battle have assured US citizens that the tariffs will not spark a trade war, and they insist that Trump will not go to war with Denmark over Greenland and that he will be able to work out a different solution. However, the Trump administration has proved to be very unpredictable, and fears of a war in the making continue to rise.

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