Washington, DC

1. Trump heads to Davos
2. Greenland tensions spike
3. Venezuela license confusion
4. SCOTUS hears gun case
5. Texas Senate race heats up
6. A flawed Africa strategy

Washington View: Will populists get bored of Davos?

Mike Johnson addresses UK parliament … Trump invites Putin to join Gaza ‘Board of Peace’ … Stoxx Europe 600 ⬇️ 1.3%

Trump heads to Davos to defend agenda

President Donald Trump, Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent and other US officials will use this week’s World Economic Forum to double down on the president’s norm-shattering agenda at home and abroad. Trump, who leaves for Davos this evening as he marks one year into his second term, will give his speech on Wednesday before he convenes a group of executives, as Semafor scooped. Until then, the US’ largest delegation in years is expected to get to work championing the president’s expansionist foreign policy ambitions and tariff-powered upending of global trade to a broad swath of journalists, executives, and officials. Not everyone is there to hear it: Danish officials have decided against attending amid Trump’s Greenland play. The president has signaled he also plans to provide more details on the domestic affordability proposals splitting his party.

— Eleanor Mueller

Trump ups the ante in Greenland quest

Trump is escalating his quest to acquire Greenland. The US president sent a text to Norway’s prime minister in which he linked his Greenland objective to the fact that he was not awarded the Nobel Peace Prize. “I no longer feel an obligation to think purely of Peace, although it will always be predominant,” Trump wrote. He also suggested Denmark’s links to Greenland are meritless, claiming there’s “no written documents,” though decades-old agreements show the US has long recognized Denmark’s claims to the territory. Trump’s threat of tariffs on European countries that oppose him is the latest headache for the EU, which is weighing retaliatory tariffs and planning an emergency summit this week. Late Monday night, Trump said he’d had a “very good” call with NATO Secretary-General Mark Rutte and will discuss Greenland with “various parties” in Davos.

— Shelby Talcott

Confusion over Venezuela oil licenses

Oil firms that want to do business in Venezuela following Nicolás Maduro’s ouster are still unsure when the Treasury Department will give them the green light. They’re “going to have to come into this at some point, and so we do need some direction,” Winston & Strawn’s Cari Stinebower, a former Office of Foreign Assets Control counsel who helped lift sanctions on Libya, said. “What we had expected was there would be a series of general licenses and, if things continued to progress forward, eventually the executive orders would be revoked. But we’re even one step before that, because they’re still at the issuing-specific-licenses stage.” Officials haven’t signaled if they’re even weighing general licenses, Stinebower added. In response, one told Semafor: “As the Administration moves quickly at President Trump’s direction, we are reviewing the existing legal parameters and restrictions with respect to sanctions.”

SCOTUS hears case on Hawaii gun laws

The Supreme Court will hear oral arguments in a Second Amendment fight over Hawaii’s gun restrictions. The case concerns a state law that bars guns on private property that is open to the public unless the property owner explicitly permits them. A lawyer for the plaintiffs challenging Hawaii’s law insisted that “the Second Amendment right to carry firearms for self-defense will effectively be eviscerated” if the court rules in favor of the state. California, Maryland, New York, and New Jersey have similar laws. The case kicks off a big week for the high court, which will hear oral arguments in Trump’s push to fire Fed Governor Lisa Cook on Wednesday. Fed Chairman Jerome Powell is expected to attend those proceedings, per CNBC. And Washington is still awaiting a ruling on Trump’s use of emergency powers to enact sweeping tariffs.

Dems eye Talarico in Texas Senate primary

James Talarico is piquing Senate Democrats’ interest. The Texas state lawmaker has spoken to at least three Democratic caucus members as he vies to defeat Rep. Jasmine Crockett in their state party’s March 3 primary. Sen. Chris Coons, D-Del., said he’s “really impressed” with Talarico. The Presbyterian seminarian just got his best poll of the cycle, showing him leading Crockett and staying competitive with Texas attorney general Ken Paxton in a general election (Crockett also polls as competitive with Paxton in a general election). Paxton is currently battling incumbent Sen. John Cornyn, R-Texas, in the Republican primary. Though Republicans think Talarico is a tougher opponent than Crockett, Cornyn has not pulled away despite significant spending on his behalf. He has yet to win an endorsement from President Donald Trump, and his own Texas colleague Sen. Ted Cruz told Semafor that he’s staying neutral.

— Burgess Everett

View: The trouble with ‘trade not aid’

Washington’s Africa strategy needs more than deals, the former USAID mission director in Uganda argued in a column for Semafor. While the Trump administration’s pivot toward “commercial diplomacy” recognized the important truth that Africa’s growth depends on private capital, the “trade not aid” mantra “misses a crucial point,” Daniele Nyirandutiye wrote. “Trade and aid were never meant to compete. When strategically aligned, they unlock Africa’s growth. For decades, development assistance has built markets, strengthened governance, and catalyzed private investment — the foundations that make commerce possible.” Instead, Nyirandutiye argued, the US should pursue a more integrated development strategy like China and the EU. “The real opportunity lies in trade through development: leveraging development tools to crowd in private capital, build resilient markets, and unlock entrepreneurial energy,” she wrote.

As populism surged, it sometimes seemed like the only people having any fun here in Davos were the right-wing provocateurs. While liberal politicians stayed away to avoid a toxic association with bug-eating globalist elites, anti-establishment figures relished the conflict. Javier Milei showed up in 2024 to denounce “wokeism,” while the Heritage Foundation’s Kevin Roberts bragged he’d told old elites their “time is up. That’s what I told them, right to their faces.” This peaked last year when US President Donald Trump humiliated top finance figures.

But Davos has now jumped on the bandwagon. The progressive lingo of years past is gone. Fossil fuels are back. Companies from McKinsey to Pfizer have bought expensive branding on USA House, a private operation with the State Department’s blessing. It turns out Trump’s brand of populism doesn’t mean he can’t enjoy a good globalist finance boondoggle.

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Beltway Newsletters

Punchbowl News: House Democrats say they plan to continue pushing floor votes as they seek to limit President Trump’s war powers.

Playbook: “Trump is on track to change the character of American government and this country’s relationship with the world more profoundly than any predecessor in decades,” writes Politico founder and editor-in-chief John Harris.

Axios: Trump plans to announce in Davos that he is expanding his Board of Peace beyond Gaza, in what some allies fear could be an attempt to create a rival UN Security Council. “The president is focused on our hemisphere first, but he has his eye on the world,” one senior US official said.

White House

• President Trump said he had “no comment” when asked if he would use force to take control of Greenland. — NBC
• The World War II-era bunker under the East Wing is being “reimagined,” along with Trump’s new ballroom. — CNN

Outside the Beltway

• No probe is ongoing into the federal agent who killed Renee Good; Deputy Attorney General Todd Blanche said the FBI is “not investigating