On Thursday, Donald Trump will make his much-awaited online appearance at the World Economic Forum in Davos, where he will speak to world leaders whose yearly rambling has been dominated by the US president’s second term.
Trump has been mentioned in practically every conversation in the Swiss Alpine village this week, including exclusive parties along the promenade, formal panel discussions, and shuttles that transport people up and down the mountain.
Davos will finally hear from the man himself during a live video appearance, with banking and oil industry CEOs having the chance to throw questions at Trump, himself a businessman who made his money in real estate.
Javier Milei, the libertarian president of Argentina, was one of the Republican president’s most vocal supporters on the international scene. He took the stage just hours before Trump and delivered a vehement speech against “the mental virus of woke ideology.”
Milei praised like-minded leaders like Trump, Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban, and El Salvador’s President Nayib Bukele, saying that Argentina was “re-embracing the idea of freedom” and “that is what I trust President Trump will do in this new America.”
“Slowly an international alliance has been formed of all those nations that want to be free and that believe in the ideas of freedom,” he said.
Additionally, he stood up for Elon Musk, his “dear friend.”
At a Trump loyalist and US billionaire’s inaugural ceremony this week, the billionaire made hand movements that were compared to the Nazi salute, causing a commotion.
According to Milei, wokeism has “unfairly vilified Musk, the CEO of SpaceX and Tesla, in recent hours for an innocent gesture that only means… his gratitude to the people.”
From tariff warnings against Mexico and Canada to the US withdrawal from the Paris climate deal and a threat to seize the Panama Canal, Trump has already given Davos a taste of what lies ahead since his inauguration on Monday, which also happened to be the first day of the WEF.
Although many businesses may support his promises to lower taxes, shrink the size of the US federal government, and deregulate industry, experts caution that these measures could reignite inflation.
Marc Benioff, the CEO of the US software company Salesforce and one of his business backers, was excited during a Bloomberg event on Wednesday.
“I’m very positive,” he stated. “I’m just looking forward to seeing what’s going to happen. And it’s a new day and, it’s an exciting moment.”
Chief executive Brian Moynihan of Bank of America, Stephen Schwarzman of Blackstone Investment Firm, Ana Botin, the executive chairwoman of Spanish group Banco Santander, and Patrick Pouyanne, the leader of French oil and gas company TotalEnergies, will all question Trump.
As they prepare for a second round of his America First ideas, US competitors and trading partners already had an opportunity to respond in Davos earlier this week.
Chinese Vice Premier Ding Xuexiang issued a warning: “There are no winners in a trade war,” without mentioning Trump by name.
Ursula von der Leyen, president of the European Commission, declared that Brussels was prepared to engage in talks with Trump. However, she also emphasized how the European Union and he have different climate policies, stating that the bloc would uphold the Paris Agreement.
According to Julie Teigland, a managing partner at the consultancy firm EY, Trump has been managing America similarly to America Inc., she told AFP. In every manner he can, he has been devoted to securing the greatest advantage for the United States.
“He knows that he needs trade partners to do that. He does. And so I expect him to give messages along these lines,” she added.