In what can only be described as the most predictable plot twist in recent memory, President Donald Trump announced Wednesday that he’s reached “the framework of a future deal” on Greenland with NATO Secretary General Mark Rutte, promptly calling off the tariff apocalypse he himself engineered four days ago.
Markets, apparently suffering from collective amnesia, celebrated by surging more than 600 points.
If this sounds familiar, it should. This is the same playbook Trump has used since his first term: create a crisis, watch everyone panic, announce a vague “solution” that changes nothing substantive, and declare victory. Rinse and repeat.
The “Concept of a Deal” That Means Nothing
In an interview with CNBC’s Joe Kernen just minutes after posting his announcement on Truth Social, Trump revealed the true nature of this breakthrough: he called it “the concept of a deal.” Not a deal. Not even a framework for a deal. A concept of one.
For those keeping score, this is the rhetorical equivalent of calling a napkin sketch an architectural blueprint. There are no details about what this “framework” actually entails. The White House offered no additional information. Mark Rutte, for his part, has not confirmed that anything remotely close to Greenland changing hands was discussed.
Meanwhile, Denmark and Greenland’s position remains unchanged: the territory is not for sale. Greenland’s government has literally issued crisis preparedness handbooks to its citizens urging them to stockpile food, water, and supplies. This is not the behavior of a nation on the verge of a friendly real estate transaction.
A Whiplash Week for Global Markets
Let’s rewind the tape on this roller coaster. On Saturday, Trump announced 10% tariffs on eight European countries, escalating to 25% by June, unless they supported America’s acquisition of Greenland. By Tuesday, markets were in freefall. The S&P 500 cratered 2.1%, its worst day since October. The Nasdaq plunged 2.4%. The Dow Jones shed 870 points. More than $1.2 trillion in value evaporated from American equities.
Gold hit record highs. The U.S. dollar weakened. Treasury yields spiked. Ray Dalio warned of “capital wars.” Analysts at Macquarie questioned whether U.S. “primacy” in global markets was coming to an end. European lawmakers suspended approval of the U.S. trade deal. The EU’s trade “bazooka,” a powerful retaliation mechanism never before deployed, was openly discussed.
And then, with one vaguely worded Truth Social post from Davos, Trump declared the crisis over. The Dow immediately jumped 600 points. The S&P 500 and Nasdaq each rallied around 1.3%. Traders, apparently, were simply grateful the tariff gun was no longer pointed at their portfolios.
Treasury Secretary “Not Concerned” About Trillion-Dollar Selloff
When asked about Tuesday’s market carnage at Davos, Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent delivered a response that perfectly captured the administration’s reality-distortion field: they’re “not concerned.”
Bessent compared the situation to Liberation Day in April 2025, when Trump’s tariff unveiling also crushed markets, calling current concerns “the same kind of hysteria.” This is technically accurate, though not in the way Bessent intended. Liberation Day was indeed followed by market chaos, policy reversals, and ultimately a trade deal with the EU that Trump just spent a week threatening to blow up.
“What President Trump is threatening on Greenland is very different than the other trade deals,” Bessent reportedly said at a Davos press event. “So I would urge all countries to stick with their trade deals.” The irony of the Treasury Secretary asking other nations to honor their commitments while the President threatens allies with tariffs to force them to sell their territory was apparently lost on the administration.
Europe Isn’t Buying It
Before Trump’s triumphant “framework” announcement, European lawmakers had already suspended work on implementing the U.S. trade deal reached last summer. Bernd Lange, chairman of the European Parliament’s international trade committee, put it bluntly: “Until the U.S. decides to re-engage on a path of cooperation rather than confrontation,” the deal goes nowhere.
Lange had earlier described Trump’s commitment not to use military force in Greenland as “a small positive element,” which is diplomatic speak for “congratulations on clearing the lowest possible bar.” The planned tariffs, Lange noted, still represented “a new quality of relation” with the United States.
British Prime Minister Keir Starmer vowed that “Britain will not yield on our principles and values about the future of Greenland under threats of tariffs.” Eight European countries issued a joint statement calling the tariff threats an undermining of “transatlantic relations” that “risk a dangerous downward spiral.”
The Bigger Picture: Creating Problems to Solve Them
What actually happened this week? Trump threatened allies with trade war. Markets panicked. European leaders rallied to Denmark’s defense. The EU prepared retaliatory measures. Greenland told its citizens to prepare for crisis. And then Trump met with Mark Rutte in Davos and announced he had the “concept of a deal” without any apparent change in the underlying situation.
Denmark still controls Greenland. Greenland still says it’s not for sale. The only thing that changed is Trump’s willingness to impose the tariffs he invented four days ago to solve a problem of his own making.
This is governance by volatility: manufacture a crisis, absorb the damage, declare victory when you step back from the brink you created. The market’s jubilant response Wednesday says less about genuine progress on Greenland than it does about how relieved investors are when the President of the United States stops actively threatening to blow up the transatlantic relationship.
The Supreme Court, meanwhile, heard arguments Wednesday about whether Trump can fire Federal Reserve Governor Lisa Cook. Justice Brett Kavanaugh warned that the administration’s position “would weaken, if not shatter, the independence of the Federal Reserve.” Another institution, another confrontation, another potential market-moving crisis waiting in the wings.
The Greenland “framework” may have bought markets a temporary reprieve. But as Citi strategists wrote this week, “the latest step-up in transatlantic tensions and tariff uncertainty dents the near-term investment case.” Europe is hedging against American risk. Capital is flowing elsewhere. And traders are learning to factor in something that didn’t used to be part of their models: the possibility that the President will threaten NATO allies with trade war over their refusal to sell him an island, only to claim victory days later with nothing more than “the concept of a deal.”
Vice President JD Vance, Secretary of State Marco Rubio, and Special Envoy Steve Witkoff will lead the ongoing negotiations, Trump announced. They’ll report directly to him. Further information, he promised, will be made available “as discussions progress.”
Don’t hold your breath.