Emmanuel Macron has taken a blistering swipe at Donald Trump during his speech at the Munich Security Conference on Friday. The French president urged Europe to “show unwavering commitment to defend interests” to reassert the continent’s position globally.

He also made reference to the threat of tariffs from the US, and Trump’s plan to seize Greenland. He said: “If we want to be taken seriously on the European continent and beyond, we must show the world our unwavering commitment to defend our own interests.

“It starts, of course, with continuing to extend our support to Ukraine, but it could nicely follow with fanning off unjustified tariffs and politely declining unjustified claims on European territory.

“This is what we did and this is what we will [continue to] do.”

He said: “Greenland is going to want us. We get along very well with Europe; we’ll see how it all works out. We’re negotiating right now for Greenland.”

German Chancellor Friedrich Merz also called for the US and Europe to “repair and revive trans-Atlantic trust together”. He called for a “new trans-Atlantic partnership”, acknowledging that “a divide, a deep rift” has opened up.

He said: “The culture war of the MAGA movement in the U.S. is not ours. The freedom of the word ends here when this word is turned against human dignity and the constitution.

“And we don’t believe in tariffs and protectionism, but in free trade… In the era of great-power rivalry, even the United States will not be powerful enough to go it alone.

“Dear friends, being a part of NATO is not only Europe’s competitive advantage. It’s also the United States’ competitive advantage, so let’s repair and revive trans-Atlantic trust together.”