Balance of Power

Welcome to Balance of Power, bringing you the latest in global politics. If you haven’t yet, sign up here.

Given the gush of initiatives and pronouncements emanating from Donald Trump, it’s easy to have missed a significant development a “big, beautiful ocean” away in Scandinavia.

Denmark announced its biggest military investment in half a century, speeding up arms purchases by dropping the usual tender processes and enabling the head of the armed forces to decide how the money is spent.

“We have one message for the defense chief: buy, buy, buy,” Prime Minister Mette Frederiksen said Wednesday.

Mette Frederiksen. Photographer: Krisztian Bocsi/Bloomberg

But for the Nordic nation, this isn’t simply about arming up — it’s about navigating a treacherous path between Vladimir Putin’s aggression and the US president’s demands.

Officially, Denmark is seeking to counter a growing security threat from Russia. In taking defense spending to more than 3% of economic output, the Danes are ramping up military preparedness after their intelligence service warned that a ceasefire in Ukraine could embolden Moscow to target a NATO country.

The move may also be Denmark’s best shot at staying off Trump’s radar.

It might help deflect the American leader’s fury over European defense freeloading at a time of tense relations between Copenhagen and Washington. Frederiksen has already been carefully handling Trump, determined to avoid his wrath as he threatens tariffs and lays claim to Greenland, a territory of the Danish kingdom.

At home, the Danish defense buildup has broad political support, but that doesn’t mean it’s risk-free.

Short term, Denmark will have to take on more debt to pay for it. Further out, new ideas will be needed to fund defense spending closer to 5% of GDP, as Frederiksen has floated. She hasn’t ruled out a war tax, a controversial move for an already high-tax nation.

In 2023, Frederiksen scrapped a public holiday to help fund defense, sparking public outrage.

If more sacrifices are coming, the political backlash could be fiercer yet. — Sanne Wass

Donald Trump Jr. visited Greenland on Jan. 7. Photographer: Emil Stach/AFP/Getty Images

Global Must Reads

The US signaled that sanctions relief for Russia could be on the table in talks over the war in Ukraine, based on the Kremlin’s willingness to negotiate a deal. Ukrainians expressed defiance after Trump aimed a flurry of criticisms at President Volodymyr Zelenskiy, even as the US’s pivot to Russia has unsettled a population hardened by the war and determined to contribute to the country’s defense.

Prime Minister Anthony Albanese spoke with the head of Australia’s defense forces and New Zealand Prime Minister Christopher Luxon after Chinese military vessels held live-fire exercises in international waters off Australia’s coast today. Commercial airlines flying across the Tasman Sea were diverted as a result of the drills, which caused an unexpected escalation of tensions between the two countries.

A Chinese navy frigate off Australia’s coast on Feb. 11. Source: Australian Defense Force/AP Photo

As Trump unleashes round two of his trade wars, an analysis of the way global commerce has rewired since his first presidency shows how Vietnam, Mexico and Canada are exposed this time around as a new era of American protectionism unfolds. Their surpluses with the US have climbed, while Trade War I target China shows up as less vulnerable to US tariffs.

Saudi Arabia’s Crown Prince Mohammed Bin Salman is rallying fellow Arab leaders around a plan for postwar Gaza as an alternative to proposals put forward by Trump, and ensure Palestinians aren’t displaced from the war-ravaged strip. Separately, Israel said a body returned from the territory as part of a ceasefire agreement with Hamas was not that of a young mother taken hostage in October 2023, as the militant group had claimed.

Mexican President Claudia Sheinbaum moved to ban foreign governments and entities from intervening in her nation’s territory after the US designated eight Latin American cartels and gangs as terrorist organizations. US drone flights to monitor illegal activity across the border have sparked controversy in Mexico.

Claudia Sheinbaum. Photographer: Stephania Corpi/Bloomberg

Brazil Supreme Court Judge Alexandre de Moraes slapped X with a new fine while ordering another social-media company that sued him in the US to appoint a legal representative in the South American nation.

Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent said he will hold his first introductory discussion with his Chinese counterpart today, and reiterated longstanding US calls on its biggest geostrategic rival to rebalance its economy toward domestic consumption.

The Trump administration sanctioned James Kabarebe — Rwanda’s minister of state for regional integration and one of the nation’s most powerful officials — for his role in supporting the M23 rebel movement in neighboring Democratic Republic of Congo.

Citigroup is ending workplace-representation goals and removing requirements to interview job candidates from diverse backgrounds, citing pressure from the Trump administration.

Sign up for the Washington Edition newsletter for news from the US capital and watch Balance of Power at 1 and 5 p.m. ET weekdays on Bloomberg Television.

Chart of the Day

Voter surveys gauging support for Germany’s political parties, which have proved relatively accurate in past elections, barely budged over the three-month campaign leading into Sunday’s national ballot. Yet pollsters are still nervous there might be a surprise. A number of unpredictable factors are at play that could impact the outcome, including tactical voting designed to thwart the far-right Alternative for Germany and a block of undecided voters estimated at more than 10% of the electorate.

And Finally

America’s national parks are some of the country’s most beloved destinations, yet rangers are warning of danger ahead as a result of cuts under Trump. As part of sweeping job reductions across the federal workforce, the government abruptly fired about 1,000 workers across the National Park Service a week ago. That’s hitting places like Devils Postpile National Monument, about 50 miles south of Yosemite National Park in California, which is now down to three permanent employees with seasonal hiring frozen.

Park employees gather in Yosemite National Park to protest the Trump administration’s jobs cuts on Feb. 15. Source: Andrea Cherney

Pop quiz (no cheating!). The leader of which country faced impeachment calls this week for promoting a memecoin called Libra? Send your answers to balancepower@bloomberg.net

Global Must Reads

Chart of the Day

And Finally

More from Bloomberg