World Economic Forum: Is he a “Davos Man”? Trump speaks at WEF

For days, Davos has been talking about little else than Donald Trump: his inauguration, the first decisions, hopes, fears. Now the newly sworn in US President himself is speaking to top managers and political figures at the World Economic Forum. In the late afternoon, the 78-year-old will be connected live for a speech and a conversation with WEF President Borge Brende.

Trump and Davos, at first glance, they go well together. After all, the US president is seen as a consummate dealmaker who has more of an instinct for tough business than sensitive diplomacy. It is also not Trump’s first appearance in Davos: in 2018 and 2020, during his first presidency, he took part in the prestigious meeting in the Swiss winter sports resort – and he clearly felt comfortable among those in power.

But at the same time, Trump and the World Economic Forum could hardly be more different. He is not a “Davos Man,” as political scientist Samuel Huntington once called the very political elite who preach the benefits of an integrated global economy at the WEF. Trump’s “America first” attitude is pretty much the opposite. So how does the World Economic Forum deal with a man who owes his political comeback to railing against the global-thinking elites who are mainly represented here?

Does Trump comment on import tariffs?

In particular, many top managers in Davos will listen to what the US President says about the tariffs he has announced on imports from countries such as China, Mexico, Canada, but also the EU. Or about his ambitions with the AI ​​industry, which has its big stage at the World Economic Forum.

Whether Google, Microsoft, Palantir or Asian companies, developers of artificial intelligence applications are omnipresent on the Davos promenade. And the mood is good, like almost everywhere in the tech industry. This may also have something to do with the fact that Trump conspicuously surrounds himself in his cabinet and environment with super-rich people from the financial, tech and crypto worlds. In these industries, many hope to gain benefits from tax cuts and reductions in regulations rather than fear tariffs.

“On the surface, Trump is good for the economy. Trump literally made most of his decisions in his first term through the prism of the stock market,” said Anthony Scaramucci, a former Wall Street banker and Trump’s communications chief for a few days in 2017, in an interview with ” Politico”. But foreign policy statements about Greenland and the Panama Canal also caused people to question the American government’s judgment. That could weaken the markets.