A taste of Trump 2.0

Hello from London. One week in, we may already be getting a flavour of what 2025 could have in store. I suspect newsrooms will be busy.

In a freewheeling press conference on Tuesday, US president-elect Donald Trump was in maximum belligerence mode: he refused to rule out using force to take control of Greenland and the Panama Canal; hinted at the annexation of Canada; and suggested renaming the Gulf of Mexico as “the Gulf of America”. EU leaders hit back, although Copenhagen struggled to respond to the Greenland threat.

Meanwhile, Elon Musk looks like he is waging his own war on another US ally as he takes aim at the UK. He has attacked politicians, from Sir Keir Starmer — we revealed this morning Musk has examined how to oust the prime minister — to Nigel Farage, and even called on the king to dissolve parliament and call an election. Our reporters analysed Musk’s X presence to see what might be leading him down the UK politics rabbit hole.

Is Musk speaking alone, or does he speak for Trump too? For Europe, the answer is increasingly urgent, writes US national editor Edward Luce.

My choices this week

1. The UK’s City minister Tulip Siddiq is in the spotlight after FT reporters revealed that she was given a central London apartment by a person connected with the recently ousted Bangladeshi ruling party. Siddiq’s aunt, Sheikh Hasina, was deposed as prime minister last year following mass student protests.
2. Justin Trudeau resigned as Canadian prime minister this week after almost a decade in power. Though he was much-loved abroad, the story at home was entirely different.
3. Chinese airlines are rapidly expanding their routes and capacity to Europe. It will be hard for European carriers to compete because China’s planes have one crucial advantage over their European rivals.
4. Britain’s birth rate is falling fast — and, in London especially, mothers are more likely to have children later in life. With the birth rate in the capital highest among women over 40, what’s driving Londoners to delay parenthood?
5. The US’s outgoing Biden administration has had a stressful time on the foreign policy front. Reflecting on the past four years, secretary of state Antony Blinken had a revealing Lunch with the FT, talking Syria, Israel, Russia and China over salmon and red wine. (Free to read)
6. It’s easy to sneer at new year’s resolutions — especially as time goes on and our tally of broken pledges mounts. But over the years, our work and careers writer Emma Jacobs has found a fresh perspective. (Free to read)

Thanks for reading,

Patrick Jenkins, FT deputy editor

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