US President Donald Trump’s plane was forced to return to an air base late Tuesday due to a “minor electrical issue” shortly after departing for Switzerland, the White House said.

Air Force One returned to Joint Base Andrews out of an abundance of caution, Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt said. It landed shortly after 11:00 pm (0400 GMT).

Journalists travelling with Trump reported that lights in the cabin went out briefly after takeoff.

Trump and his entourage changed planes at Joint Base Andrews and took off again shortly after 0500 GMT, about two-and-a-half hours after his initial departure.

With its classic blue and white livery, Air Force One is arguably the world’s most iconic plane and an instantly recognisable symbol of the US presidency.

Trump has long been unhappy with the current Air Force One jets — two highly customised Boeing 747-200B series aircraft that entered service in 1990 under President George HW Bush.

Last year, Trump said his administration was “looking at alternatives” to Boeing following delays in the delivery of two new 747-8 aircraft.

In May, Pentagon chief Pete Hegseth accepted a Boeing 747 that the Gulf emirate of Qatar offered to Trump for use as Air Force One.

The jet — worth hundreds of millions of dollars — has raised huge constitutional and ethical questions, as well as security concerns about using an aircraft donated by a foreign power for use as the ultra-sensitive presidential plane.

DAVOS: European leaders drew a clear line over Greenland on Tuesday, vowing an “unflinching” response to Washington’s threats even as US President Donald Trump said he was ready to hold a meeting in Davos about his plans to take the autonomous Danish territory.

Asked hours before he was to head to the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland, how far he would go, Trump replied only: “You’ll find out.”

“We have a lot of meetings scheduled on Greenland, and I think things are going to work out pretty well,” Trump told reporters about his Davos meetings.

Leaders at the World Economic Forum (WEF) in the Swiss ski resort closed ranks against Trump’s increasingly aggressive America First agenda, while Greenland’s prime minister said his tiny population of 57,000 must be prepared for military force.

European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen led the European rejoinder, cautioning that Trump risked plunging US ties with the European Union into a “downward spiral”.

France’s Emmanuel Macron warned against US attempts to “subordinate Europe”, and blasted as “unacceptable” Trump’s threats to impose tariffs of up to 25 per cent on countries opposed to his Greenland plans.

Trump had earlier insisted Greenland was “imperative” for security. “There can be no going back – on that, everyone agrees!” he posted on his Truth Social platform.

The US president, who will address the annual gathering of global elites on Wednesday, has put the transatlantic alliance to the test with his demand to take over Greenland.

Europe is weighing countermeasures after he threatened levies on eight European countries, though Washington has said any retaliatory levies would be “unwise”.

US Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick told European countries “to keep the pressure and temperature low” with regards to threats of retaliatory tariffs, while the US trade envoy Jamieson Greer told journalists in Davos that it would “not be wise” for European nations to use its “bazooka” trade measures.

Von der Leyen branded the US tariffs a “mistake”, telling the meeting of world business and political leaders they could start a spiral that would only aid Europe’s adversaries.

“So our response will be unflinching, united and proportional,” she said.

Nato at stake

Trump has pressed on with his Greenland campaign on Truth Social, writing that he had a “very good” call with Nato secretary-general Mark Rutte in which he agreed to meet with “various parties” in Davos.

Rutte’s predecessor Anders Fogh Rasmussen warned that the Republican’s Greenland gambit had ignited the biggest crisis in Nato’s history, and said the time for “flattering” the US leader was over.

“It is the future of Nato and the future of the world order that are at stake,” he told AFP in an interview at Davos.

Greenland’s Prime Minister Jens-Frederik Nielsen agreed, telling a press conference in Nuuk that while military force was “unlikely” it could not be ruled out.

“That’s why we must be ready for all possibilities, but let’s emphasise this: Greenland is part of Nato and, if there were to be an escalation, it would also have consequences for the rest of the world.”

Trump argues he wants to protect mineral-rich Greenland from perceived Russian and Chinese threats – although Washington already has a base there and security agreements through Nato, while analysts suggest Beijing is a small player in the region.

EU leaders will hold an emergency summit on Greenland in Brussels on Thursday.

‘Law of the jungle’

Other prominent foreign leaders addressing the WEF on Tuesday included Chinese Vice Premier He Lifeng, whose country has been locked in a trade war with Trump.

“A select few countries should not have privileges based on self-interest, and the world cannot revert to the law of the jungle where the strong prey on the weak,” He said, without naming names.

Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney, who has sought to reduce his country’s reliance on the United States in its own tariffs feud with Trump, also voiced his support for Greenland at Davos.

Canada had benefited from an era of “American hegemony”, he said, but now had to pivot to defend the existing international order.

Other flashpoints on the WEF agenda include the crises in Venezuela, Gaza, Iran – and Ukraine.

Europe, which is ramping up defence spending to break its security reliance on the United States, still needs Washington’s help to end the Ukraine war and deter the looming Russian threat to its east.

But Ukraine’s President Volodymyr Zelensky warned on Tuesday that he worried the furore over Greenland could divert attention, warning of a “loss of focus during a full-scale war”.

Macron, wearing sunglasses because of a broken blood vessel, sent a message to Trump to propose a G7 summit in Paris on Thursday on Greenland as well as Ukraine, with Copenhagen, Moscow and Kyiv attending on the sidelines.

But he later clarified to AFP that no such meeting was yet scheduled and Trump said that he wouldn’t join the meeting.

The Kremlin said Russian envoy Kirill Dmitriev plans to meet members of the US delegation in Davos – the first to attend since Russians were excluded from the gathering following Moscow’s invasion of Ukraine in 2022.

French President Emmanuel Macron drew attention at the World Economic Forum (WEF) in Davos, Switzerland, when he took the stage wearing distinctive aviator sunglasses during his appearance on Tuesday.

The French president has been battling an eye condition that he has described as “completely harmless”.

Macron wore the sunglasses during his Davos speech to protect his eyes after suffering a burst blood vessel, the Elysee Palace said.

Macron had addressed the issue several days earlier after he was seen wearing sunglasses during an outdoor troop inspection at a military base in Istres, in southern France.

Speaking at the time, he opened his New Year’s address to France’s armed forces by referring directly to his appearance. “Please pardon the unsightly appearance of my eye. It is, of course, something completely harmless,” he said.

He went on to add with humour: “Simply see an unintentional reference to the ‘Eye of the Tiger’ … For those who catch the reference, it is a sign of determination,” an apparent nod to the hit song by American rock band Survivor from the 1982 film Rocky III, starring Sylvester Stallone, according to The Independent.

At Davos, Macron struck a firmer tone on global politics and trade. “We do prefer respect to bullies,” he said, adding: “And we do prefer rule of law to brutality.”

He described the United States’ “endless accumulation” of new tariffs as “fundamentally unacceptable”, particularly when used “as leverage against territorial sovereignty”.

Macron said the European Union should not bend to “the law of the strongest”, calling it “crazy” that the bloc was being forced to consider using its “anti-coercion instrument” against the United States.

The speech came after Donald Trump threatened steep tariffs on French wine and champagne and published private messages exchanged with Macron, an unusual breach of diplomatic convention. Trump shared screenshots of the exchange on his Truth Social account.

In the messages, which a source close to Macron said were authentic, Macron told Trump: “I do not understand what you are doing on Greenland,” and offered to host a G7 meeting, inviting Russia and others. Neither Trump nor the French source disclosed when the messages were sent.

Trump had earlier vowed to impose a wave of escalating tariffs from February 1 on several European allies, including France, until the Washington is allowed to acquire Greenland — a move that major EU states have condemned as blackmail.

— Additional input from Reuters.