Davos summit delegates hope for positive message from Trump

Delegates attending the World Economic Forum (WEF) in Davos said on Tuesday (January 23) they hoped U.S. President Donald Trump would bring a positive message to the annual gathering of top political and business leaders, which he has criticised in the past.

Trump is expected to deliver his speech a double-edged message to the forum in Switzerland on Friday (January 26). The president is expected to urge the world to invest in the United States to take advantage of his deregulatory and tax cut policies, stress his “America First” agenda and call for fairer, more reciprocal trade, an senior administration official said.

During his 2016 election campaign, Trump blamed globalisation for ravaging American manufacturing jobs as companies sought to reduce labour costs by relocating to Mexico and elsewhere.

His attendance is seen as entering something of a lion’s den which will see him rubbing shoulders with the same “globalists” that he campaigned against.

Advertisement

Aides said some of Trump’s advisers had argued against him attending the WEF which brings together world political leaders, and top bankers. But in the end, they said, Trump, the first sitting U.S. president to attend the forum since Bill Clinton in 2000, wanted to go to call attention to growth in the U.S. economy and the soaring stock market.