In the past few days, Davos has hardly talked about anything else but Donald Trump. Today, the freshly inaugurated US President will take the stage alongside top managers and politicians at the World Economic Forum. He will deliver a speech and engage in a discussion with WEF President Borge Brende, broadcast live in the late afternoon. It’s not Trump’s first appearance in Davos; he also attended the prestigious gathering in 2018 and 2020, during his first presidency.
He is not a “Davos Man” as political scientist Samuel Huntington once called the elite who, at the WEF, preach the “advantages” of an integrated world economy. Trump’s “America first” attitude is almost the opposite.
Many top managers in Davos will be eager to hear what the US President has to say about the tariffs he has announced on imports from countries like China, Mexico, Canada, and the EU, as well as his ambitions in the AI sector, which has a big stage at the World Economic Forum.
The US President has recently threatened the European Union with tariffs on products imported into the United States. “They treat us very, very badly. So, they will have to reckon with tariffs” Trump said at a press conference in the White House. Tariffs, he claimed, are the only way to achieve fairness and take revenge.
According to Vice-Chancellor Robert Habeck, the new US President, Donald Trump, dominates all discussions at the World Economic Forum in Davos. The response is clear: “Europe must be stronger.” The EU is too slow, too complicated, has too fragmented financial markets, and too little economic growth, said the Green Party politician.
There are worldwide concerns that Trump could trigger massive turbulence in global trade by introducing high tariffs on imports and isolating the US economy. Observers are particularly worried about his aggressive stance towards China. Recently, the Republican said, “We’re thinking of 10% tariffs against China because they ship Fentanyl to Mexico and Canada.” Fentanyl is a synthetic drug that claims thousands of lives in the US every year.