EU Commission President Ursula von der Leyen will not return to Davos, Switzerland, this week, missing any chance of a face-to-face meeting with Donald Trump about Greenland and his threat of tariffs on six EU member countries.
“The president made the strategic and political assessment that the best use of her energies was to return to Brussels to focus on preparation for what is a very important European Council meeting,” said Commission deputy chief spokesperson Olof Gill.
EU leaders will fly to Brussels on Thursday for a special summit, after Trump threatened last week to impose a new set of tariffs on eight European countries that have deployed troops to Greenland.
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The Commission was cagey early in the week about saying whether any Von der Leyen-Trump meeting was in the works. “As far as I’m aware, no invitations were issued in either direction,” Gill said on Wednesday.
The World Economic Forum draws world leaders and geopolitical luminaries to Davos. Donald Trump arrived in Davos on Wednesday, around two hours behind schedule, after an electrical malfunction on Air Force One forced a last-minute plane switch.
Italy’s Giorgia Meloni, Germany’s Friedrich Merz, Finland’s Alexander Stubb and Belgium’s Bart De Wever are among the European leaders now in Davos. So is NATO chief Mark Rutte.
Von der Leyen delivered a speech in Davos on Tuesday, before flying to Strasbourg, where the European Parliament is in session.
In 2025, she travelled from Davos to Strasbourg and back again, despite having just recovered from a serious bout of pneumonia.
Nicoletta Ionta and Elisa Braun contributed reporting.
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