"So we should unite and we should say to Donald Trump ... 'You're crossing red lines here.' Swedish Deputy Prime Minister Ebba Busch told Reuters that attempts to win over Trump with flattery, as some European leaders have tried in the past, would not work. "Stroking the cat along the line of its fur is not going to do the trick this time. However, some senior bankers and executives in Davos, who spoke on condition of anonymity, said they saw the response from European leaders to Trump's moves as emotional rather than pragmatic. But any decisions were unlikely, the source told Reuters, adding: "You need peace in order to reconstruct the place."

Source: Irish Independent January 20, 2026 17:53 UTC