Carney, Macron, Chinese wind farms come under fire

US President Donald Trump backed away from tariffs on European countries and ruled out taking over Greenland by force while attending the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland.

But his freewheeling special speech at the forum, which lasted more than an hour, contained the kinds of attacks that have become trademarks of his presidency.

President Trump mentioned economic growth in the United States, continued efforts to acquire Greenland from Denmark, and wind energy in both Europe and China.

The US president also made clear his feelings toward some Western political leaders, and in a subsequent speech reiterated his criticism of one NATO member in particular. Here’s a rundown of those who came under fire this week:

French President Emmanuel Macron spoke at Davos on Tuesday wearing dark reflective sunglasses, during which President Trump asked, “What the hell just happened?”

“I saw him wearing beautiful sunglasses yesterday,” President Trump said Wednesday, drawing laughter from the audience.

Macron’s office later announced that the president had chosen to wear aviator sunglasses to protect his eyes due to a ruptured blood vessel, according to Reuters.

Macron did not mention Trump by name, but in his speech he warned of a shift to a “world without rules” and denounced “bullying”.

In his own speech, Trump claimed to have cajoled Macron into agreeing to raise drug prices in France, saying: “You’ve been screwing us over for 30 years.”

France’s presidential office responded in a social media post, calling it “fake news” with a GIF of Trump saying the same phrase in front of a microphone.

“President Emmanuel Macron is alleged to have increased the prices of medicines,” the French presidential palace announced on Wednesday.

“He does not set the prices. Prices are regulated by the social security system and in fact remain stable. Anyone who has stepped into a French pharmacy knows that,” they added.

Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney gave one of the most scathing speeches at Davos, accusing “big powers” of weaponizing economic power and urging “middle powers” to act together.

“By the way, Canada is getting a lot of freebies from us,” Trump said in a speech the next day. “They should be grateful too, but they’re not. I saw the prime minister yesterday and he wasn’t that grateful.”

Trump added: “Canada lives because of the United States of America. Mark, please remember that next time you speak.”

After leaving Davos, President Trump announced that he had withdrawn Mr. Carney’s invitation to serve on a “peace committee” in the Gaza Strip.

Carney said last week that he intends to join the board, but details, including financial terms, have not yet been worked out. Each permanent member must pay $1 billion.

President Trump spoke at the signing ceremony of the Peace Commission on Thursday and reiterated his criticism of Spain over its defense spending.

Last June, the NATO military alliance agreed to more than double defense spending from 2% to 5% of GDP by 2035, but Spain successfully sought an exemption and was able to keep spending at around 2%.

“I don’t know what’s going on in Spain, but why wouldn’t they? They want a free ride, right?” Trump said. “Every country except Spain has increased to 5%. We don’t know why. We will have to talk to Spain.”

President Trump has previously threatened to make Spain pay reparations for refusing to meet defense spending targets, and recently said in a meeting with Finnish President Alexander Stubb that Madrid had “no excuse” to reduce payments.

Spain’s Prime Minister Pedro Sánchez said in June last year that he considered the current defense spending rate of 2% of gross domestic product (GDP) to be “sufficient, realistic and compatible with a welfare state.”

Former Swiss President Karin Keller-Sutter also faced criticism from President Trump this week.

President Trump said Wednesday that he received a call from Keller-Sutter after calling her Switzerland’s “Chancellor” and threatening to raise tariffs on Swiss goods to 30%.

“She said, ‘No, no, we can’t do that, 30 percent. We can’t do that. We’re a tiny little country.’ I said, ‘Yes, but we have a pretty big deficit,'” Trump said. “She just rubbed me the wrong way, I’ll be honest.”

After the call, President Trump raised Swiss tariffs to 39%, which he said reflected the highest tariffs his administration had ever imposed on a country.

Late last year, the US president agreed to reduce tariffs on Swiss products to 15%. Keller Sutter’s term ended in December.

It wasn’t just political leaders who drew President Trump’s ire. The US president, a vocal critic of wind energy, has taken aim at wind turbines.

“There are windmills all over Europe,” President Trump said in a speech at Davos. “There are windmills everywhere, but they are losers. One thing I’ve noticed is that the more windmills a country has, the more money it loses and the worse its performance.”

Trump added, “China makes most of the windmills, but they couldn’t find any wind farms in China. Have you ever thought about that? That’s a good way to look at it. China is smart. China is very smart. They build windmills, sell them for a lot of money, and sell them to stupid people who buy them, but they don’t use them themselves.”

China, the world’s leading wind power, responded by defending its renewable energy strategy and reaffirming its commitment to promoting low-carbon energy.

Trump’s comments were also ignored by EU climate change commissioner Wopke Hoekstra and Vestas CEO Henrik Andersen.

“We take a fundamentally different view here. We certainly feel that climate change is having a significant impact on the economy,” Hoekstra told CNBC on Wednesday.

In a separate interview, the chief executive of Denmark’s Vestas also disputed President Trump’s claims that wind energy doesn’t work. “We’re going to continue on exactly the path we’ve been on,” Andersen told CNBC on Thursday.