The United States “is behaving very strangely” for an ally, European Central Bank President Christine Lagarde said Wednesday, as US President Donald Trump steps up his campaign to take Greenland from NATO ally Denmark.

Trump’s bid to seize the Arctic island has opened up the deepest rift between Washington and Europe in decades, with the US leader threatening tariffs on several countries over their opposition to his designs on the Danish territory.

Asked in Davos in an interview with French radio station RTL whether the United States was an “ally” or “adversary” of the EU, Lagarde responded: “They are behaving very strangely for allies.”

“When you are allies under the North Atlantic Treaty, when you have been allies for decades and have been part of each other’s history, threatening to seize territory that is clearly not for sale, such as Greenland, and waving tariff restrictions, and various other restrictions on international trade, is not really behaving like an ally,” she said.

She said she would be paying close attention to the US president’s speech later Wednesday at the annual gathering of the world’s economic and political elite.

Lagarde, chief of the central bank for the 21 countries that use the euro, said she was not planning to meet Trump in person, but thought his speech would be “interesting”.

“Once President Trump has redefined his position this afternoon in Davos, it will allow Europeans to determine what they are going to do together,” she said.

“For me, what seems fundamental is unity and determination.”

Speaking later at a panel in Davos, Lagarde also warned that further fracturing of the global economy could be bad for business, especially for big players in the artificial intelligence industry.

If you ask the “big spenders” in AI what they need, “they will say access to data as large as possible, they will say scale,” she said.

“Now that would be significantly jeopardised if we have limited access to data because of different privacy laws around the world and more protectionist barriers that would prevent the scaling of this investment,” she said.

US President Donald Trump on Saturday escalated his quest to acquire Greenland, threatening multiple European nations with tariffs of up to 25 per cent until his purchase of the Danish territory is achieved.

Trump’s threats came as thousands of people protested in the capital of Greenland against his wish to acquire the mineral-rich island at the gateway to the Arctic.

Thousands more protested in Copenhagen and other Danish cities.

The US president aimed his ire at Denmark, a fellow NATO member, as well as several European countries that have deployed troops in recent days to the vast autonomous territory with a population of 57,000.

If realised, Trump’s threats against Washington’s NATO partners would create unprecedented tension within the alliance.

From February 1, Denmark, Norway, Sweden, France, Germany, the United Kingdom, the Netherlands, and Finland would be subject to a 10-per cent tariff on all goods sent to the United States, Trump said in a post on his Truth Social network.

“On June 1st, 2026, the Tariff will be increased to 25%. This Tariff will be due and payable until such time as a Deal is reached for the Complete and Total purchase of Greenland,” he wrote.

“These Countries, who are playing this very dangerous game, have put a level of risk in play that is not tenable or sustainable.

“Therefore, it is imperative that, in order to protect Global Peace and Security, strong measures be taken so that this potentially perilous situation ends quickly and without question,” Trump said.

Trump added that he was “immediately open to negotiation with Denmark and/or any of these Countries.”

‘Make America Go Away’

In Nuuk, thousands of people, including the territory’s prime minister, Jens-Frederik Nielsen, waved Greenlandic flags, chanted slogans and sang traditional Inuit songs under light rain.

Many wore caps with the words “Make America Go Away”, a riff on Trump’s “Make America Great Again” slogan.

“We don’t want Trump invading Greenland; that is the message,” 44-year-old nurse Paarniq Larsen Strum said at the Nuuk rally, calling the situation “nerve-wracking”.

“We demand respect for our country’s right to self-determination and for us as a people,” added protest organiser Avijaja Rosing-Olsen.

In Copenhagen, charity worker Kirsten Hjoernholm, 52, said it was important to show unity with Greenlanders.

“You cannot be bullied by an ally. It’s about international law,” she said.

Around her, demonstrators waved the flags of Denmark and Greenland while chanting “Kalaallit Nunaat!” — the vast Arctic island’s name in Greenlandic.

Some also held placards saying “USA already has too much ICE,” referring to Trump’s deployment of federal immigration officers in US cities, while others chanted “Greenland is not for sale.”

Trump has repeatedly claimed that the United States needs Greenland for US “national security.” He also claims that Denmark is incapable of ensuring the territory’s security, notably from China and Russia.

France said the military exercise in Greenland was designed to show the world that they will defend the territory.

Denmark said the US had been invited to join the drill.

It was not immediately clear what authority the US president would invoke to impose the threatened tariffs of up to 25 per cent.

Since returning to the presidency, Trump has unleashed sweeping tariffs on goods from virtually all trading partners to address what Washington says are unfair trade practices and as a tool to press governments on US concerns.

Washington and the European Union struck a deal last summer to lower US tariffs on key European goods, with the deal currently being implemented.

Also on Saturday, a delegation of US lawmakers was wrapping up a visit to Copenhagen for talks with Greenlandic and Danish politicians.

The group, led by Democratic Senator Chris Coons, told reporters that Trump’s stance was misguided and not backed by the majority of Americans.

It is also roundly rejected by Greenlanders, 85 per cent of whom — according to the latest poll published in January 2025 — oppose the territory joining the United States. Only six per cent were in favour.

Ugandan opposition leader Bobi Wine said Saturday that he had escaped a police raid on his home and was in hiding as the country braced for the results of a fraught election held under an internet blackout.

Earlier reports by his party suggested that Wine was forcibly taken away in an army helicopter from his home on Friday, a day after elections marred by reports of violence.

The President Yoweri Museveni, 81, looked set to be declared winner and extend his 40-year rule in an election marred by reports of at least 10 deaths and intimidation of the opposition and civil society.

As Uganda endured a tense wait after Thursday’s polls, Museveni had a commanding lead against Wine, 43, a former singer turned politician who was arrested ahead of Uganda’s last election in 2021.

With final results due around 1200 GMT Saturday, there were conflicting reports about Wine’s whereabouts, following claims that police and the army had raided his home on Friday night.

“I want to confirm that I managed to escape from them,” Wine posted on X on Saturday. “Currently, I am not at home, although my wife and other family members remain under house arrest.

“I know that these criminals are looking for me everywhere, and I am trying my best to keep safe,” he added.

There was a heavy police presence around the capital, Kampala, AFP journalists saw, with security forces forcing people off the streets as they sought to prevent the sort of protests that have hit neighbouring Kenya and Tanzania in recent months.

Police said they had “controlled access in areas we feel are security hotspots”.

“We have not necessarily denied people accessing (Wine), but we cannot tolerate instances where people use his residence to gather and… incite violence,” police spokesman Kituuma Rusoke told reporters.

A stall-owner near Wine’s home, 29-year-old Prince Jerard, told AFP he had heard a drone and helicopter at the residence the previous night, with a heavy security presence.

“Many people have left (the area),” he said. “We have a lot of fear.”

With more than 90 per cent of votes counted on Saturday, Museveni was leading on 71.9 per cent to Wine’s 24.5 per cent, the Electoral Commission said.

Wine, 43, whose real name is Robert Kyagulanyi, has emerged as the main challenger to Museveni in recent years, styling himself the “ghetto president” after the Kampala slum areas where he grew up.

He has accused the government of “massive ballot stuffing” and attacking several of his party officials under cover of the internet blackout, which was imposed ahead of the polls and remained in place on Saturday.

African election observers said Saturday they saw no evidence of ballot-stuffing but denounced “reports of intimidation, arrest and abductions” targeting the opposition and civil society.

This “instilled fear and eroded public trust in the electoral process”, former Nigerian president Goodluck Jonathan told reporters in Kampala, representing election observers from the African Union, as well as regional bodies COMESA and IGAD for east and southern Africa.

He said the shutdown of the internet “disrupted effective observation” and “increased suspicion” but that the overall conduct of the polls on election day was “peaceful”.

Analysts have long viewed the election as a formality.

Museveni, a former guerrilla fighter who seized power in 1986, has total control over the state and security apparatus, and has ruthlessly crushed any challenger during his rule.

The other major opposition figure, Kizza Besigye, who ran four times against Museveni, was abducted in Kenya in 2024 and brought back to a military court in Uganda for a treason trial that is ongoing.

There were reports of election-related violence against the opposition.

Muwanga Kivumbi, member of parliament for Wine’s party in the Butambala area of central Uganda, told AFP’s Nairobi office by phone that security forces had killed 10 of his campaign agents after storming his home.

Police gave a different account, saying an “unspecified number” of people had been “put out of action” when opposition members planned to overrun and burn down a local tally centre and police station.