Davos, Switzerland - Jan 19, 2026 (CCTV - No access Chinese mainland)
1. Venue of World Economic Forum (WEF), attendees walking
2. Various of sign of WEF

Davos, Switzerland - Recent (CGTN - No access Chinese mainland)
3. SOUNDBITE (English) Adam Tooze, history professor, Columbia University:
"Well, I think actually, what we've seen - the optimistic reading - is that it's exerting enough pressure for the Europeans to consolidate. I don't regret President Trump telling us that he's not going to invade Greenland. That is a considerable source of relief. But what I worry about is that, that having disappeared as a threat, the energy that we were seeing in the first couple of days of this week will begin to ebb away. And that, I think, will be really regrettable."

Davos, Switzerland - Jan 19, 2026 (CCTV - No access Chinese mainland)
4. Various of attendees walking inside venue, signs of WEF

Davos, Switzerland - Recent (CGTN - No access Chinese mainland)
5. SOUNDBITE (English) Adam Tooze, history professor, Columbia University:
"The first Trump administration should have been a wakeup call. I think unfortunately, the Biden administration, which was classically Atlanticist, put the Europeans back to sleep and now they're waking up again. And I think this is a tendency. This has got to be something we have to fight. Europe has to understand the need to stand on its own two feet. It will, in fact, be better for its relations. But the point they have to prove is they can stand up for themselves. Right? For so long, they've been caricatured as just being about global rules that there's almost a reaction now in Europe that they have to show they can do vigorous."

FILE: Brussels, Belgium - April 3, 2024 (CCTV - No access Chinese mainland)
6. Various of flags of NATO members, NATO flag, headquarters
7. "NATO Star" sculpture

FILE: Washington D.C., USA - October 2024 (CCTV Video News Agency - No access Chinese mainland)
8. Various of Capitol Hill, U.S. national flag

Europe must demonstrate its capacity to stand on its own feet, moving beyond talk of rules to real action amid the pressure from the United States, according to Adam Tooze, history professor of Columbia University in New York.

In an exclusive interview with China Global Television Network (CGTN) on the sidelines of the 2026 World Economic Forum, Tooze expressed his concern that once the threat of the United States [to take control of the Greenland] fades, Europe's newly awakened momentum may fade as well.

"Well, I think actually, what we've seen - the optimistic reading - is that it's exerting enough pressure for the Europeans to consolidate. I don't regret President Trump telling us that he's not going to invade Greenland. That is a considerable source of relief. But what I worry about is that, that having disappeared as a threat, the energy that we were seeing in the first couple of days of this week will begin to ebb away. And that, I think, will be really regrettable," he said.

According to Tooze, Europe must demonstrate in concrete terms that it can defend its own interests and act decisively, rather than relying on talk of rules alone.

"The first Trump administration [2017-2021] should have been a wakeup call. I think unfortunately, the Biden administration, which was classically Atlanticist, put the Europeans back to sleep and now they're waking up again. And I think this is a tendency. This has got to be something we have to fight. Europe has to understand the need to stand on its own two feet. It will, in fact, be better for its relations. But the point they have to prove is they can stand up for themselves. Right? For so long, they've been caricatured as just being about global rules that there's almost a reaction now in Europe that they have to show they can do vigorous," he noted.