Bessent said the size of Denmark’s investment in US Treasury bonds, “like Denmark itself, is irrelevant … It is less than $100m [£75m]. Von der Leyen said on Wednesday that the EU had to get faster and stronger in a world now defined by “raw power”. “The shift in the international order is not only seismic, but it is permanent,” von der Leyen told the European parliament. Other options include a package of tariffs on €93bn (£80bn) of US imports or the bloc’s “big bazooka”, its “anti-coercion instrument”. Separately, the governor of California, Gavin Newsom, responded to Bessent’s claim that he was smug, self-absorbed and economically illiterate.

Source: The Guardian January 21, 2026 18:55 UTC