United States in January 2026: the most important developments in politics
In January 2026, the United States was dominated by President Donald Trump's push to acquire Greenland. He repeated the claim through the month, said military force was "always an option" and that the US must own the island to keep Russia or China from taking it, and threatened tariffs on countries that opposed him. Denmark and Greenland's government rejected the idea, and European leaders called the tariff threat unacceptable. At Davos on 21 January Trump ruled out force but repeated his wish to buy the island. On 22 January he said he had secured indefinite access rights, which Denmark contradicted, and he dropped the tariff threat after announcing a framework with NATO. Local reaction to the US-NATO agreement on Greenland was mixed.
Trump's "Board of Peace" was the second theme. Announced on 16 January to oversee a transitional administration for Gaza, it initially included Tony Blair, Marco Rubio and Jared Kushner. Reports said a permanent seat would cost $1 billion. Benjamin Netanyahu, Morocco's king, the UAE and Turkey joined, while Norway, France, Germany and Italy declined or said they could not join in its current form. Trump signed its charter at Davos on 22 January. The US also announced the start of the second phase of its Gaza ceasefire plan.
On 3 January US forces captured Venezuela's Nicolas Maduro, who pleaded not guilty to narco-terrorism charges in New York. Countries including China and Russia condemned the operation. Delcy Rodriguez was sworn in as Venezuela's leader, Trump spoke with her by phone, CIA Director John Ratcliffe met her in Caracas, and Venezuela released more than 100 political prisoners. Trump also warned Cuba to "make a deal".
At home, a fatal shooting by a federal agent in Minneapolis led Democrats to demand Kristi Noem's resignation, and a partial government shutdown began on 31 January over homeland security funding. The Justice Department opened an investigation into Fed Chair Jerome Powell, and on 30 January Trump nominated Kevin Warsh to replace him. The Justice Department also released about three million pages of Epstein documents.
by WorldBrief & Maksim Micheliov | AI-generated summary
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