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Quest Means Business
Trump: Greenland Deal Gets Us Everything We Needed; Former NATO Chief: Territorial Integrity Must be Respected; Latvian President: Trump Announcement on Greenland is Good News; Markets Jump After Trump Announces Greenland Framework; Dutch Prime Minister Reacts to Trump's Speech; Supreme Court Hears Arguments on Trump Bid to Fire Fed Governor; Interview with Carlsberg CEO Jacob Aarup-Andersen. Aired 4p-5p ET
Aired January 21, 2026 - 16:00 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
RICHARD QUEST, CNN INTERNATIONAL HOST, "QUEST MEANS BUSINESS": Closing bell ringing on Wall Street, and what an hour the last hour has been. The Dow
rallies after President Trump calls off the European tariffs over Greenland. Hit the gavel, bring trading to a close and a one and the two
and one, two, three. You can see that enormous rally up, a spike of green, that was when we got the announcement that the tariffs were off, that a
framework had been done because those are the markets and these are the main events of the day.
President Trump said he has formed a framework of a future deal on Greenland after meeting with the NATO Secretary-General. The former NATO
SecGen argues the bloc is not just good for Europe, but the United States as well. You're going to hear Stoltenberg on this program tonight, and the
Dutch Prime Minister tells me tonight Europe has to create a strong foothold for itself.
Yup! We are live in Davos on Wednesday. It is January the 21st. I am Richard Quest and of course, I mean business.
Good evening.
We begin tonight with President Trump saying he has reached a framework for a deal over Greenland. Mr. Trump posted on Truth Social that a breakthrough
came during a meeting with NATO Secretary General Mark Rutte.
As a result, Mr. Trump has dropped his threat to impose tariffs on European Allies starting next month and he struck a much different tone during his
speech at the World Economic Forum.
Now then, he rehashed many of his complaints about Europe, once again expressing doubts that NATO allies would actually defend the U.S. Move
forward a few hours, now, he is praising the work of the Alliance.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
DONALD TRUMP (R), PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA: Great security, great national and international security, it is a deal that
people jumped at. Really fantastic for the USA, it gets everything we wanted, including especially real National Security and international
security.
REPORTER: How so? Can you give us some details, please?
TRUMP: Well, the deal is going to be put out pretty soon, and we will see. It is right now a little bit in progress, but pretty far along. It gets us
everything we needed to get.
REPORTER: How will you ratify it, Mr. President?
REPORTER: What did Mark Rutte say?
TRUMP: Well, he is a great leader. I think he is fantastic. The Secretary General was representing the other side, which is really us, too, because,
you know, we are a very important member of NATO. I've done a lot for NATO, and it is really nice.
I mean, it is a deal that everybody is very happy with.
REPORTER: Does it still include you -- does it still include -- does it still include the United States having ownership of Greenland like you've
said, you wanted?
TRUMP: It is a long-term deal. It is the ultimate long-term deal and I think it puts everybody in a really good position, especially as it
pertains to security and minerals and everything else.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
QUEST: Especially to security and minerals. Ravi Agrawal is with us, the editor-in-chief of "Foreign Policy."
Ravi, I mean, talk about a --
RAVI AGRAWAL, EDITOR IN CHIEF, "FOREIGN POLICY": What a whiplash.
QUEST: Whiplash. Absolutely.
Earlier in the afternoon, it has to be -- has to be ownership, leasing is not enough. Tonight specifically asked about ownership and he says -- he
says, well, it is a long-term deal, an infinite deal.
AGRAWAL: He is trolling us. I don't know how else to put it. I mean, if you go back to that speech today, this was one of the most anticipated speeches
I can remember at Davos. Thousands of people trying to get in and he basically, ever the performer, he talked about everything but Greenland.
And then when he finally did, he made up facts about the history of NATO and the fact that, of course, America could have its bases in Greenland. It
could do all the things he wanted to do without ownership and yet he made clear that that was very important to him.
And then we get this Truth Social post.
QUEST: All right, we get the Truth Social post and earlier, I was in the Congress Center with Mark -- well, I saw Mark Rutte on the phone and then
we chased him down the corridor. We've got some video of the moment where you see myself and a couple of other journalists. Here we go.
There is Mark Rutte coming out, and although you can't really hear very clearly what he is saying, but in this, he agrees that -- he says it is a
very good deal. It is a framework of a deal. But he tells us no more than that.
[16:05:07]
AGRAWAL: We've got no details at all. I mean, I was actually standing not too far from Rutte when he was speaking to someone else on the phone, and I
overheard him say, "Yes, I think it is a good deal." But no details from any party as to what that means.
Look, it could be that were back to the status quo, where of course, Denmark and Greenland is a part of NATO, and they all have to cooperate on
what is a real threat from Russia and China as the ice melts around Denmark and Greenland.
But the question is, Trump has made very clear publicly that he wants to own this not once, many times.
QUEST: On this thing, Rutte wouldn't be talking in these terms if sovereignty was in question. He has no authority to do that. He would be
the last person to.
So, therefore, we are talking about a much greater Arctic arrangement, which is what they all want and it sounds like this -- the fudge is more
for less in a sense, or less for more, whichever way you want to put it.
AGRAWAL: I mean, but remember, a lot of this is just theater. I mean, so we know that Trump likes to sell a deal, both domestically at home to his side
and then globally as well. He likes to appear to be a winner. And I mean, all of us have now become, of course, Trump pop psychologists.
But you're right in that he has gotten something, we just don't know what exactly it is or maybe he has gotten what America always had, which is the
ability to build more bases in Greenland and the ability to station more troops there.
QUEST: Good to see you, sir. I am grateful to have you with us tonight. Thank you very much, Ravi.
AGRAWAL: Always, Richard.
QUEST: I mean, as Davos goes, these are fairly extraordinary events. Thank you for joining us. Thank you very much indeed.
AGRAWAL: Thank you.
QUEST: Now, to Washington now and Kevin Liptak is in Washington joining me.
Kevin, we don't know the details. We do know the showmanship nature of it. We do know what was -- well, you tell me how you interpret the events of
the last few hours.
KEVIN LIPTAK, CNN SENIOR WHITE HOUSE REPORTER: Yes, I mean, I think that there was no way that this bid for Greenland was going to end without some
sort of signing ceremony and that seems to be where all of this is headed.
You know, we don't know what Trump is going to sign, but it seems almost certain that he will be coming out, you know, in the next couple of weeks
or the next couple of months very eager to tout this accomplishment that he thinks that he has achieved in Greenland.
But I think it was perhaps the most notable moment of the entire day so far was that, you know, four-second pause when Kaitlan Collins asked him
whether this was going to include ownership of Greenland, and he had to stop and think about what he was going to say, and all he could come up
with was that this was going to be a long-term deal.
And I think it is pretty evident that the President has come to some sort of arrangement that will allow him to tout having accomplished something,
but is clearly not the U.S. owning Greenland, which makes you wonder what the whole point of this, you know, weeks long push, what this churlish
speech to Davos earlier today, what it was all intended to do.
You know, the President was pushing on an open door in a lot of ways. Greenland said that the U.S. was welcome to put more bases there as their
current existing treaty allowed them to do, and I think you cannot underestimate the role that the markets were playing in all of this.
Clearly, the President mentioned that in his speech today and obviously the markets reacted very positively to when he came out and said that he had
this framework deal. And it seems as if the President finally came to the moment of recognition that an off ramp was necessary.
QUEST: Kevin, the difficulty in terms of -- I mean, Ravi was suggesting the same thing, that we could end up in the position, well, yes, so much, we
got exactly what we got and we could have got it in the first place without all the angst and anxiety.
But The White House will say it was necessary to get or to go through this process to get this what might look like a wider deal for more Arctic
involvement.
LIPTAK: Yes, I mean, and I think that there may be some truth to that. The President seems to have directed attention on security in the Arctic in a
way that did not exist, at least in the collective mind, as it did previously.
You know, there was an interesting point in a statement from a NATO spokesman that I just got in the last 10 minutes or so. It clearly didn't
offer any details of what the framework consists of, but it had an interesting line when it says negotiations between Denmark, Greenland and
the United States will go forward, aimed at ensuring that Russia and China never gain a foothold economically or militarily in Greenland.
And I think that just goes to the point that the President has been trying to make, which is that if the U.S. doesn't own Greenland, that Beijing and
Moscow will gain a foothold there. One off ramp that had been described to me by officials, sort of quietly over the last several days was some sort
of enhanced treaty that includes specific provisions that would preclude China and Russia from involving themselves in Greenland.
[16:10:16]
And so if that is all where this is headed, I think this statement seems to suggest it might be.
QUEST: Kevin Liptak in Washington. Kevin, I am grateful. Thank you.
The former head of NATO is telling me that the Alliance has given the United States a lot, despite President Trump's claims of getting nothing.
Jens Stoltenberg, who is, of course, now the Finance Minister of Norway, he stepped down as NATO Secretary General at the end of 2024. I spoke to the
Minister before news of the deal on Greenland. He told me his reaction to Donald Trump's remarks, the rather polemic speech that was given today.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
JENS STOLTENBERG, FORMER NATO SECRETARY-GENERAL: Of course, that is an important message because up to now, many were afraid that he actually was
going to threaten to use force to acquire Greenland. At the same time, I think it is very important to convey the same message as Norway, as many
others have done for a long time now, that is Greenland is part of the Kingdom of Denmark and borders and territorial integrity should be
respected by all countries, including, of course all NATO allies and the United States.
QUEST: Right. And the difficulty now is having made that important statement, the President of the U.S. spent the next five minutes, ten
minutes saying, we want Greenland. We need Greenland. NATO has never given us anything. NATO needs to give us Greenland.
STOLTENBERG: My most important message on that is that NATO has given the United States a lot. NATO has given for all this decades since 1949,
enhanced security. NATO is good for Europe, but NATO is also good for the United States.
The only time we have invoked Article V was after an attack on the United States, 9/11, and of course, the U.S. is big, 25 percent of the world's
GDP, but together with friends and allies, it is 50 percent of the world's global economy and 50 percent of the military might, so NATO makes also the
United States stronger and safer.
QUEST: Right, so having had many roles, I just want to -- the President of the U.S. published the texts between himself and the Prime Minister, and
now everybody seems to be putting it out. How difficult is it for office holders like yourselves if somebody starts publishing your private texts
and messages?
STOLTENBERG: Of course, it becomes much more difficult to communicate that way, or at least when you communicate with text messages, you need to be
prepared that it may become public. I think that to text is a very useful way of communicating. But of course, when you get published and then you
have to be more careful.
QUEST: On this question of European economies, the economies of Europe are doing well. Christine Lagarde said that here. Norway is doing well. Norway
is in a uniquely privileged position because of this vast Sovereign Fund that you have. Are you happy with where you are?
STOLTENBERG: Well, there are challenges also for the Norwegian economy. We have an aging population. We need to finance that with more pensions and
more elderly care, but compared to many other countries, we are in a good position, partly or mainly actually, because a very large portion of the
Norwegian people are working, and that adds to our growth.
But also because of you have the Sovereign Wealth Fund, but the Sovereign Wealth Fund is actually something that the Norwegian people created because
I have been Minister of Finance before, back in 1996, and at the beginning of that year, we had zero money in the Sovereign Wealth Fund, and then we
decided to save all the revenues and only use the financial return.
And by doing that, we have now been able to build a big fund by political decisions taken by Norwegians.
QUEST: How difficult is it to stand firm when everybody wants to dip in, and everybody can always find an excuse. Oh, no. Minister, just this year,
just half a percent.
STOLTENBERG: Yes, yes, yes, yes.
QUEST: Pensions. Pensions, hospitals.
STOLTENBERG: It is difficult and of course for most countries, it is difficult to spend money you don't have.
QUEST: You've got it.
STOLTENBERG: The problem for us is to not spend money we have. But the message is that the oil wealth belongs to many generations.
QUEST: Choose your color first. Choose your color.
STOLTENBERG: Red.
QUEST: Whoa! Whoa! He is telegraphing a message. The Minister is clear.
STOLTENBERG: But then -- but then this is about what creates hope?
QUEST: What gives you hope?
STOLTENBERG: And I will join those who said history because I would just -- because actually, if you look back, things are moving in the right
direction.
[16:15:04]
I was just also again with Bill Gates in a panel where we addressed global health and child mortality has gone down over the last decades, life
expectancy has gone up. More people can read and write than ever before. So if you look at some of those fundamental values or indicators of human
progress, the world is still moving forward.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
QUEST: As you can see, the board is filling up. What gives you hope? And more and more -- we had to put -- we had to change the top of it because
things were getting a bit messy and I am sure it will get more messy as we carry on tonight.
We are covering breaking news of the framework deal over Greenland. We will be in Nuuk after the break. We will talk more about it.
QUEST MEANS BUSINESS live on a very busy night in Davos.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
QUEST: Quest Means Business from Davos. Back to our top story: President Trump says he has formed a framework for a future deal on Greenland, and
the NATO Secretary-General, it follows the NATO Secretary-General meeting here in Davos, and the Secretary-General agrees with what was said that a
framework -- a deal has been put together and further negotiations will take place.
As a result, Mr. Trump said he would no longer impose new tariffs on European nations opposed to his ambitions and there was a sharp rally on
the market, with the Dow up several hundred points.
During an earlier speech in Davos, Mr. Trump backed down using force to acquire Greenland, though he said he could envision paying for it.
Edgars Rinkevics is the President of Latvia. Mr. President, thank you sir.
I know that you are hearing this as fast as we are, but what do you make of what you're hearing tonight?
EDGARS RINKEVICS, PRESIDENT OF LATVIA: I think it is good news because that is something that we were advocating for beginning -- from the beginning of
the whole issue, that everything that is related to the security of Greenland should be dealt through NATO, through collective defense efforts.
And apparently, I believe that that framework includes most probably more military engagement of NATO troops.
We are sometimes talking about so-called Arctic Sentry. Now, we have the Baltic Sentry, we have the Eastern Sentry -- those missions that are
guarding the eastern flank, maybe that is something that is now building up. The redoubt will be coming tomorrow.
[20:20:07]
QUEST: Right. But on this core point of the significance of the Arctic and one might take issue with President Trump's methods and phraseology. But
there does seem to be an acceptance of the importance of strengthening the Arctic security.
RINKEVICS: Yes, absolutely. And, you know, there is quite a remarkable change because six or seven years ago, we were not talking so much about
Arctic security. There were some discussions, but we were not looking at this from the angle of guarding our collective, not only eastern security,
but now also northern security.
So, this is remarkable change, but I think that this is the right time to talk about this challenge as well.
QUEST: Are you disappointed that there wasn't more progress made on Ukraine here at Davos? The President basically -- the U.S. President basically
saying that, you know, it is not -- it has nothing to do with us. It is a long way away. We are helping out with NATO, but it is really nothing to do
with us.
Now, this sort of lack of engagement at the moment could lead to a greater push by Russia.
RINKEVICS: I think that to some extent, we have seen that already in the past.
QUEST: Really.
RINKEVICS: We had -- remember, we had some strikes against Iran. We had some other things happening and then the focus from Ukraine shifted, but
then it came back and yes, indeed, we were all talking about Greenland. We were talking about the changing or disappearing Old-World order and the
New-World order emerging.
But I do believe that already from tomorrow, that Ukraine is going to be back, and all the issues that are related to security guarantees,
territorial issues will be discussed again.
QUEST: The question of disinformation of Russian cyber activity, it sounds the stuff of spy movies, but you were telling me that it is real and your
citizens are feeling it.
RINKEVICS: Well, you know, we have acts of sabotage. We have acts of espionage, we have disinformation campaigns through social media.
QUEST: Really.
RINKEVICS: Those are things that we consider as almost business as usual. But of course, it is not a business as usual and we are in the midst of
hybrid warfare, especially in the eastern flank.
QUEST: Hybrid warfare. Right. Well, come over a bit of other time. Come over and join me over here, sir. Choose your color.
Oops. I will bet. Oh, oh -- bending down in the cold weather, it is not easy. Choose your color.
RINKEVICS: The blue one.
QUEST: Everyone is going blue. What gives you hope? You can circle join or you can write something new on the board yourself. So what gives you hope?
RINKEVICS: I would choose the word "calm."
QUEST: Oh! Calm!
RINKEVICS: Whatever -- whatever situations we have, we always need to keep calm and carry on.
QUEST: Keep calm -- good to see you, sir. I am very grateful. Keep calm and carry on. Thank you.
The President of Latvia.
Now going to Nic Robertson joining us from Nuuk in Greenland.
I imagine the entire place is aflutter and a swirl tonight with what this framework might be. But I guess we can say knowing that Mark Rutte is
involved, it doesn't involve sovereignty.
NIC ROBERTSON, CNN INTERNATIONAL DIPLOMATIC EDITOR: We can't say that and that's the question that people here want to know about, mostly want to
know that detail. But Richard, it feels very much like me, very much for me like President Trump, with the many deals that he has talked about, that he
has achieved, you know, we go back to the Gaza Deal in September, the end of September, there was a Gaza Deal, but there were so many questions and
loose ends and threads and some of those were only answered just a couple of days ago.
So, it does feel as if there is in principle, agreement. So, typical of how President Trump does these sorts of things in principle agreement about how
to go forward, but still a long way from a deal, therefore still a long way from the final details of it, and these are the questions that are that are
being asked here.
Sense of relief that the military threat appears to have been taken off the table, although a little bit of, you know, can we really trust the
president on that because he does change his mind? So, when the Prime Minister gives a press conference here tomorrow, I think people are going
to be asking all of those questions: What do you know about the details?
And the politicians I've talked to this evening have been telling me we don't know the details. I feel that's where we are at -- Richard.
[16:25:01]
QUEST: When that -- the idea, though, I mean, you're in one part of Greenland and the place is vast, but the phraseology of the Truth Social
post talks about a much entire Arctic. It talks about a much wider area or some sort of agreement that's being reached. This would -- this is deeply
inhospitable territory, however friendly and hospitable the people may be.
ROBERTSON: Look, I think this very much gets to what the Danish Foreign Minister and the Greenlandic Foreign Minister had in their discussions with
the Vice President and the Secretary of State in The White House last week, that there is a bigger, broader Arctic issue that we both agree on.
The Arctic is massive. Rather, Russia is more than a thousand miles away from here. Many more than probably a thousand and a half from where we
stand on this side of Greenland.
It is along the coast of Russia that those nuclear-powered submarines are heading out into the Atlantic that are a threat to U.S. security, threat to
NATO security. That's more than a thousand miles away.
But the point that the Danes have been making is we can step up security as NATO in this arctic region. This is something that Mark Rutte was talking
about yesterday, that there was a commonality of understanding here and it seems that President Trump is now on board with that messaging, that there
is a commonality. It is a vast area, there is much that can be done.
And remember, look, it was just a couple of days ago that NATO sent troops here to kind of uptick that security presence in the Arctic, to give an
indication of how it could be done, to assess how it could be done.
President Trump promptly threatened tariffs on those countries. Of course, now, he has backtracked from that, but that's where we are it seems with
what the narrative about what NATO can do has been there. Now, President Trump seems to be buying into the idea of it. But how much does he still
want Greenland out of that? Hard to imagine his reverse course so much in a couple of hours this afternoon from that big speech where he said he must
have sovereignty to where he is now, saying it is a long-term deal to Kaitlan Collins' question, an infinitely long deal he talked about.
He already has a deal, the 1951 deal with Denmark about what the U.S. can do in Greenland, which is pretty much whatever they want.
QUEST: Nic, grateful. Thank you, sir. Nic Robertson in Nuuk.
Now, President Trump's post left out the mention of sovereignty, Greenland's sovereignty. It was a four-second gap when Kaitlan Collins did
ask about him, and he had to think about the answer for that.
Well, after the break, the Dutch Prime Minister thinks that the decision is up to Denmark.
The Prime Minister is next.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
[16:31:00]
QUEST: I'm Richard Quest. Together we'll have a lot more QUEST MEANS BUSINESS. We'll be in Washington where the Fed chair Jay Powell and his
predecessor, Ben Bernanke, were both at the Supreme Court hearing in support of the governor, Lisa Cook, in her claim over her being fired by
the president. The Dutch prime minister gives his reaction to President Trump's appearance here in Davos.
We'll only get to that after the headlines because this is CNN and of course, on this network, the news always comes first.
President Trump says he has the framework of an infinite agreement on Greenland, one that would put an end to plans to enact new tariffs on
nations opposed to the U.S. acquisition of the island. Mr. Trump says he's formed a future deal after discussions with NATO secretary general and the
secretary general agrees that an agreement has been reached in principle. And according to Mr. Trump, the agreement gets us everything we needed.
U.S. lawmakers are recommending that Bill and Hillary Clinton be held in contempt of Congress. The former president and the first lady had been
called to testify in a congressional hearing into Jeffrey Epstein. They refused to comply with the subpoena. If the House of Representatives votes
in favor, the case would then be referred to the Department of Justice.
At least one person has died and 37 people are injured after a commuter train derailed in Catalonia in northwestern Spain on Tuesday. According to
the regional government, the incident occurred after a retaining wall fell on the tracks. Of course, the significance it follows two days after
Spain's deadliest train crash in more than a decade to high speed trains collided, killing 41 and injuring many.
Take a look at the chart of today's Dow's performance, and you'll see. You'll see how the day progressed. That's the triple stack, with the best
gains being on the Dow Jones Industrials. But the market the Dow jumped on President Trump's announcement of a framework for a future deal over
Greenland.
The Dow was up, there you see. And that -- I mean that's a nice generous pop. It comes at 2:30 in the afternoon. It's just when we get the word of a
framework, it means the close is at over 4,000 -- 49,000. The day, of course, it follows this worst day since October, when tensions were briefly
reignited with the "Sell America" trade, in which stocks and bonds, dollar, they all fall back to safe havens.
Ronald Kraszewski is the chairman and CEO of Stifel Financial. He joins me now.
What do you make of the markets and their -- I mean, first of all, that the whole idea of the "Sell America" trade?
RONALD KRUSZEWSKI, CHAIRMAN AND CEO, STIFEL FINANCIAL: Well, you know, there's a couple of aspects to this. Don't forget, Japan, no one's talking
about that and the and the increase in yields in Japan. But maybe let's not get caught up on that too much. But look, the market is sort of like what's
been going on here in Davos. I mean, you're sitting here talking about how everything is going on. Can everyone believe it?
You know, from where I come from, do you expect anything different? This is what Trump does. This is how he negotiates. This is how he gets things
done. I'm not surprised at all.
QUEST: Really?
KRUSZEWSKI: Not at all. Not at all.
QUEST: No, no, I understand this idea of, you know, Trump always backs down at the end.
KRUSZEWSKI: I'm not saying that.
QUEST: No, no, no. Or that this is a negotiating strategy. Go maximalist and then come back to the compromise. But if that's the case here, we ended
up where we could have ended up anyway.
KRUSZEWSKI: Well, I don't know. We're ending up there and everyone is all excited about it. But look, Trump will do in two days here what it takes
usually 15 state dinners and, you know, you move the needle one-tenth of 100th of a percent.
[16:35:08]
He's a negotiator. And it just, let's not get all that excited about this. The market, yes, it was up today. But it only retraced 60 percent of the
loss from yesterday. So there's some things going on. But look, I listen to all these speeches about how we're reordering the world order. OK. Now wait
a minute. The world order in 1946 was that the U.S. would provide defense.
QUEST: Yes.
KRUSZEWSKI: And the U.S. would protect the shipping lanes. That was the world order in 1946. We're talking about Greenland. Northern Greenland is
security. Southern Greenland is the shipping lanes. The U.S. is doing what they've always done. They're supporting world trade by providing defense
and protecting the shipping lanes.
QUEST: So in a sense, you're saying that more ado about nothing, a lot of noise is being made.
KRUSZEWSKI: Well, a lot of noise is being made over what is in Europe's and the U.S.'s best interest.
QUEST: Let's talk on markets generally at the moment.
KRUSZEWSKI: OK.
QUEST: The strength of this rally. Well, it's more than a rally that we've seen over the last year or so. It's been, Donald Trump talked about it in
his speech today. It is very deep and it's been very long lasting. He's still very tech focused, well, mainly tech focused. Can that remain?
KRUSZEWSKI: Yes, absolutely. I mean, if you saw Secretary Lutnick today was talking about potentially 6 percent GDP. Now that he might be a little
optimistic here, as you and I are standing here. But no, the markets have been strong. We put in a big tax cut, immediate depreciation. The policies
have been very strong.
QUEST: That immediate depreciation is a good sugar rush.
KRUSZEWSKI: Well, OK. It is a good sugar rush as are tax cuts anywhere. OK?
QUEST: Exactly. Exactly.
KRUSZEWSKI: So, I mean, I don't know if it's a sugar rush. I wouldn't say it that way. I think it's good economic policy to encourage investment.
QUEST: Right.
KRUSZEWSKI: Not a sugar rush, I mean.
QUEST: What I mean is it's going to -- it's going to have an effect.
KRUSZEWSKI: So did, so did COVID $3,000 checks. I mean, all of these things did. But come on.
QUEST: Right. Join me over here, sir.
KRUSZEWSKI: All right.
QUEST: Join me over here. Have you really been the CEO since --
KRUSZEWSKI: I have. Since 1997.
QUEST: 1997.
KRUSZEWSKI: Can you believe that?
QUEST: Right. You must be doing something right.
KRUSZEWSKI: That is true.
QUEST: What gives you hope? Choose your color.
KRUSZEWSKI: I'm going to choose green.
QUEST: Green.
KRUSZEWSKI: It's going to be. You want me to write it down?
QUEST: Yes, if you like to.
KRUSZEWSKI: It's -- I don't know if I can spell it. But you know what it is. It's humanity.
QUEST: Oh, there you go. Don't worry about it. At this stage, nobody can read anything.
KRUSZEWSKI: That's right. OK. I mean, because we'll get -- we'll get through all this stuff. This is a great country. Democracies, Western. But
we need to relax. I mean, everyone gets so excited here. So just --
QUEST: Chill and relax.
KRUSZEWSKI: Chill and relax. I should have wrote that down.
QUEST: Next time, sir. Thank you. I'm grateful.
KRUSZEWSKI: All right. Thank you.
QUEST: As we continue now the Danish -- chill and relax. That's a good idea. The Danish foreign minister posted on X a short time ago. "The day is
ending on a better note than it began." I spoke to the Dutch prime minister Dick Schoof before Donald Trump's announcement, which avoided the subject
of Greenland's sovereignty.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
DICK SCHOOF, DUTCH PRIME MINISTER: Our sovereignty is something that only Denmark can decide on, and sovereignty is one of the key issues in
international law. So I think we should stick to sovereignty and share the interest on the security of the Arctic.
QUEST: When we look at the speech, he was incredibly rude in many ways about Europe, about the -- what he essentially says is Europe's freeloading
on the United States, the way Europe has become too liberal, the way, you know, the left, right. You heard. It's nothing you haven't heard before,
but it does show a very different view of the two sides.
SCHOOF: Yes, because we think otherwise. That's very clear. And of course, we realize that we are in a different time and that we have to change as
well. And for example, I look back to the Hague summit of the NATO before summer last year, where we decided that we go to 5 percent. I mean, that
was also -- I mean, I have to agree under pressure of President Trump. But I think in the end, we all agreed that we have to step up. And the same
thing is true for our economy and for a lot of other issues. So Europe has to create a strong foothold for itself.
QUEST: Do you recognize any of the criticisms when he talks about immigration, imported workforces, nations that no longer look like the
original, the hijacking of countries?
SCHOOF: Well, immigration is a big issue. It's in the Netherlands, it's in Europe, and we work very closely together. Me, myself, for example, with
Giorgia Meloni and with Mette Frederiksen, because they are very strict on migration, to see if we can step up Europe also in getting the immigration
down, particularly asylum. So, and I think we also have a migration pact. So we're working very hard on that.
It's a big difference for say five or six years ago. So we're working very hard on this issue because it is a societal issue. It's a political issue.
[16:40:02]
QUEST: Right. And do you fear that enough has now been done to stop a further shift to the right?
SCHOOF: That's an interesting question. I'm a prime minister of a right- wing cabinet.
QUEST: Exactly.
SCHOOF: Yes.
QUEST: Exactly. You're the -- right. But there's a very fine line between being the prime minister of a right-wing cabinet and going over the edge.
SCHOOF: Yes. But I think --
QUEST: And that is always the risk.
SCHOOF: Yes, yes. But I think the most important thing is that we really address issues that relate to our society and asylum and migration is an
issue that we have to relate to them because of our citizens. And the way we do it is important. And of course, we try to stick to all the laws, but
we have to stop illegal migration to Europe. And that's we are very strong on.
QUEST: How did Europe manage to get itself into this mess?
SCHOOF: We are not getting into a mess. We have a problem and we're trying to deal with it. And I think that for a long time that we thought, just we
thought that we would like secure and peaceful, and we didn't realize what Russia was doing and that the world was changing. So we also maybe
underestimated the influx of people and what it would do to our societies.
QUEST: It's a very fine line, isn't it? Between that acceptance, that acceptability of recognition that something has gone wrong and going too
far so it becomes racist. That's a -- it's a fine line.
SCHOOF: Yes. I mean, you're an interesting way of putting things, but let me say this. I mean, in Europe we still think that people that are really
seeking refuge, we should give shelter. But what we see is that a lot of people use this asylum system for a lot of reasons, for a better life,
which is we could recognize it, but it's not acceptable in the system because we have to look in the way that our society still can take it in.
QUEST: Come to the board with me, sir. Come to the board. What gives you hope?
SCHOOF: Let's see here some space. Cooperation.
QUEST: Oh, that's a good one. We need more of that.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
QUEST: As we continue tonight the U.S. Supreme Court has been hearing arguments in the politically charged case over President Trump's ability to
fire a Fed governor. Now, amongst those in the newsroom was the current Fed chair himself.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
[16:45:10]
QUEST: Can't go wrong with that.
The U.S. Supreme Court -- lovely day. The U.S. Supreme Court is signaling doubt over President Trump's power to immediately fire a Fed governor. Mr.
Trump has claimed he can fire Lisa Cook for cause. He's accused her of mortgage fraud. She denies doing anything wrong and says she was never
given a chance to defend herself.
During Wednesday's hearing, both conservative and liberal justices questioned the president's effort to meddle with the central bank's
independent leadership and independence. In attendance at the court, there was the Fed chair, Jerome Powell. He's under investigation by the U.S.
Justice in a separate matter.
Joan Biskupic joins me now.
Now, Joan, this is interesting, isn't it? Because we already had a vision of this when they talked about firing people before. The Supreme Court had
pretty much made clear they regarded the Fed as sui generis because of the significance to the economy. And, you know, they seemed -- it seems to be
they're going in Lisa Cook's favor.
JOAN BISKUPIC, CNN CHIEF SUPREME COURT ANALYST: That's absolutely right, Richard. And it's interesting you talked about Jerome Powell being there.
Lisa Cook was also there in the courtroom today. And the Fed definitely is being treated differently. We can say that right away that the court had a
regard for its independence, for its integrity, and that shadowed much of this dispute.
But what it comes down to, as you referred to that misconduct that they're alleging and that he is claiming -- President Trump is claiming he has
proper cause to do it. And so there was a lot focused on exactly what does for cause mean. How serious does it have to be? And more importantly, in
her case, what kind of notice and chance for a hearing was she given? And the sense from the justices was that, you know, something unfair had
happened here.
As you probably remember, Donald Trump tried to fire Lisa Cook through a Truth Social post, gave her no chance for a hearing, which the justices
referred to a lot. And that got them. So did what the Fed represents in America. Justice Amy Coney Barrett talked about how some of the amicus
briefs that have come in have said that if you let the president remove one of the Fed governors in this kind of manner that that could cause a
recession because it would obviously undercut the Fed's independence.
Go ahead, Richard.
QUEST: Joan, do you think there's -- when I say, when I say the word frightened, I don't mean sort of literally frightened. But do you think
that the Supremes are aware and frightened that you really don't want to meddle with the Fed because if you do, the consequences for your economy
could be out of all proportion to the point that's being made here?
BISKUPIC: You know, I think that's a perfectly legitimate question to ask in this case. And I think the word frightened isn't too far off. They are
risk averse people themselves. And they have been warned about what could happen if the world economy thinks that our Federal Reserve somehow is
being compromised and being pressured by the president. They do not want that, and they do not want to be part of that.
QUEST: Joan, good to see you. I'm grateful, as always, making sense of what's happening in the Supreme Court. Thank you.
And when we continue here in Davos, the turmoil is impacting European consumers. The chief executive of Carlsberg, well, we'll have a drink to
that if he's brought anything along. Well, anyway he'll be with us after the break. QUEST MEANS BUSINESS.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
[16:51:33]
QUEST: Oh, look at that. That's rather jolly, isn't it? I'm not -- it's a nice sculpture. Looking forward to warmer days here at Davos. An ice
sculpture in the shape of the FIFA World Cup. That's rather jolly, isn't it? I wonder how long it'll take before it'll melt.
Tariffs, threats, geopolitical uncertainty. It's all weighing on European business leaders. Carlsberg's chief exec is trying to weather this climate
at the same time as customers are moderating their alcohol intake.
Jacob Aarup-Andersen is the Carlsberg Group CEO.
Good to see you, sir. I'm grateful.
JACOB AARUP-ANDERSEN, CARLSBERG GROUP CEO: Good to see you.
QUEST: And Danish company.
AARUP-ANDERSEN: Yes.
QUEST: Good Danish company. How are you viewing these matters, Greenland and so forth? Tonight of course it does seem to have been some major
developments on that regard.
AARUP-ANDERSEN: It seems to have been a relatively eventful five to six hours. We've just been through. And as a major global Danish business, I
have to say we leave politics to the politicians. But of course, as a business that operates all over the world, I need to deal with the
uncertainty that follows these developments. And that's what we are spending our time on.
I'm not sitting there orchestrating solutions for the matter at hand, but we are focusing on making sure that we're resilient and we can play both
offense and defense in these situations.
QUEST: Right. But what is the risk here in terms of the business?
AARUP-ANDERSEN: For our business, if you look at the current environment around tariffs and the geopolitical uncertainty, tariffs directly is not an
impact on us. So we have a very small U.S. business. So no direct impact from that. It's more the fact that it's hitting consumer confidence. So if
you look at the last 12 months, consumer confidence globally has been hit by this turmoil.
QUEST: Yes. When it comes to alcoholic beverages, I've never been sure whether they are recession resistant at one level because people -- maybe
they don't buy as much and they trade down from premium brands to lesser brands. Perish the thought. But people do still like to have a bevvy.
AARUP-ANDERSEN: They do. And especially on a day like today, I think, after everything we've heard. There's no doubt when you look at beer, it's a very
resilient category.
QUEST: Right.
AARUP-ANDERSEN: You look at many consumer goods categories. This is a very resilient category. And we're seeing that over the last couple of years as
well. Of course, cyclicality is also hitting us. Consumer goods is being hit by cyclicality over the last couple of years due to this cost of living
crisis we're seeing in many countries. But it's a very stable and resilient category.
QUEST: So how do you grow the business? I mean, you know, Carlsberg is, amongst consumer products, one of the most mature businesses. And you can
go into other liquors and you can go into other areas and other drinks, but essentially you want to push it up the premium scale.
AARUP-ANDERSEN: Yes. So listen, we're on quite a significant journey at the moment.
QUEST: Right.
AARUP-ANDERSEN: Over the last couple of years, we've been also changing the growth vectors in the business. So if you look at mainstream beer, you
refer to a second ago for the first year and 178 years, that's less than half of our business. So we've been focusing a lot on premium, a lot on
alcohol free and moderation products.
QUEST: Let's talk about this alcohol.
AARUP-ANDERSEN: Very happy to. Yes.
QUEST: Because I think we've talked on this program several times. I don't drink alcohol. And I often feel that my selections when I go into the pub
are either some overly sweet cocktail, mocktail.
AARUP-ANDERSEN: Yes.
QUEST: Or sparkling water, which I can live with. What can you offer?
AARUP-ANDERSEN: We can offer something different.
QUEST: Can you?
AARUP-ANDERSEN: No doubt about the fact that alcohol-free beer as a category has developed massively, so we've launched more than 60 different
alcohol-free brews over the last three years.
QUEST: Right.
[16:55:06]
AARUP-ANDERSEN: And there's an amazing innovation happening there, not just from us, but for the entire industry.
QUEST: And it's not considered as a second class product.
AARUP-ANDERSEN: Hey, listen, Richard, it used to be, if you go back 10, 15 years, so there's absolutely no doubt that nonalcoholic beer was viewed as
a secondary product. Today it's a category in itself.
QUEST: Really?
AARUP-ANDERSEN: You see a lot of people that this is the first choice when they walk into that pub you walk into. And I have to say, the taste
profile, the sensation you get, it's amazing.
QUEST: Choose your color.
AARUP-ANDERSEN: Well, it's in Carlsberg green, of course. Yes.
QUEST: Silly me, silly me. All right. What gives you hope, sir?
AARUP-ANDERSEN: Well, I can tell you what gives me hope.
QUEST: For a drink.
AARUP-ANDERSEN: As always. Beer. And you know why I write that? I write that because the social effect that we create, the moments we create with
beer, at this stage in the world, with all the geopolitical uncertainty, I think we need a beer once in a while.
QUEST: I am grateful to you, sir. Thank you very much.
AARUP-ANDERSEN: Thank you so much.
QUEST: "Profitable Moment" after the break.
AARUP-ANDERSEN: Thank you sir.
QUEST: Thank you.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
QUEST: Tonight's "Profitable Moment." Well, what a last few hours we have had here in Davos. There's always an energy at the World Economic Forum.
You know there really is. And there's always an energy. But the anticipation that we had with President Trump's arrival here in
Switzerland, the whole business overnight of his plane turning back and then having to get another aircraft to come over here.
And then the speech, which was just extraordinary in the way people were cheering -- mentally cheering the fact he'd said no to force, but then were
horrified by many of the comments that he made concerning insulting allies and mocking friends. And then tonight, the Truth Social post that said a
framework had been done. Mark Rutte, who I found in the corridors on the phone talking all about it.
This is what Davos is really all about. I have no idea what it will finally look like, what this framework, whether it will be acceptable to other NATO
allies. I'm guessing it will be because Mark Rutte is already involved in it. But I do know that when you put it all together, great progress was
made today. People are going home tonight feeling a lot more peaceful about what's going on, a little more cheerful and arguably so feeling it was well
worth coming up the mountain. Yes, they are.
And that's QUEST MEANS BUSINESS for tonight. I'm Richard Quest in Davos. Whatever you're up to in the hours ahead, I hope it's profitable. I'll see
you tomorrow.
END
