Trump to address Davos shortly
In around 15 minutes time, Donald Trump is to address the World Economic Forum by video-link.
Trump has visited Davos twice before – when he was the main event in town (which he clearly loved).
This time, he’ll be beamed onto the big screen at the front of WEF’s cavernous hall.
Queues have been building in the last few minutes, with WEF attendees keen to get a taste of digital Donald…
Key events
Trump: EU treats the US very badly
Asked about Europe’s “regulatory regime”, Trump claims that the EU treats America”very, very unfairly”, and “very badly”.
Trump complains that Europe don’t take US farm products or US cars, but sent cars to the US by the milions.
Trump says this results in “hundreds of billions of dollars of deficits” with the EU, which nobody’s happy with.
“We’re going to do something about it,” he says, darkly.
Trump goes on to insist that he loves the countries of Europe, even though they treat the US “very, very unfairly with the VAT taxes and all of the other taxes they impose”.
He also takes a swipe at Europe’s regulation of US tech firms, saying they want billions from Apple, Google, and Facebook.
These are American companies, whether you like them or not, they’re American companies, and they shouldn’t be doing that.
Trump claims these fines are “a form of taxation”.
Factcheck: Apple was fined for a “sweetheart” tax arrangement, for example
Trump round off his speech by promising to make the US “greater, bigger, stronger, better than ever before”
And we’re onto questions.
Steve Schwarzman, chairman of Blackstone Group, jokes that he’s sure the crown prince of Saudi Arabia will be “really glad you gave this speech today”.
Trump then has a good old gloat that he’s going to be president while the US hosts the World Cup and the Olympics, and also marks the 250th anniversary of the country’s founding (in 2026).
Trump: I’ll make Nato members pay 5% of GDP
Onto the military, and Trump says he’s going to ask all NATO nations to increase defense spending to 5% of GDP.
Trump points out that most nations didn’t meet the 2%/GDP target until he challenged them, during his first term.
I insisted that they pay, and they did, because the United States was really paying the difference at that time.
Factcheck: Just this morning, Nato chief Mark Rutte agreed that European Nato members aren’t paying enough, and warned that the 2% level will not be enough to ensure security in a few years.
Trump then claims to have “saved free speech” in America, and boasts that he is taking action to abolish “all discriminatory Diversity Equity and Inclusion nonsense”.
He add that the policy of the United States is that there are only two genders, male and female.
Trump: I’ll tell Saudi Arabia to cut oil price
Trump then tells Davos he will ask Saudi Arabia and the Opec group to bring down the cost of oil.
Trump says he was “surprised” that this didn’t happen before last November.
You got to bring it down, which, frankly, I’m surprised they didn’t do before the election. That didn’t show a lot of love.
Trump then claims that if the oil price came down, the Russia-Ukraine war would end immediately.
Right now, the price is high enough that that war will continue, Trump argues, adding:
They should have done it long ago. They’re very responsible, actually, to a certain extent, for what’s taking place.
[Trump’s point, I think, is that Russia is still bringing in revenus through its oil sales, despite the G7 and EU sanctions on energy sales.
If Saudi Arabia and the wider Opec group pumped more oil, the law of supply and demand would kick in….]
Trump: Make your product in the US, or face tariffs
Trump then appears to warn that tariffs of some sort could be imposed on a wide range of goods.
Speaking to delegates at Davos, he says:
If you don’t make your product in America, which is your prerogative, then very simply, you will have to pay a tariff.
These tariffs will come at “differing amounts”, he says, but they will direct hundreds of billions of dollars, if not trillions, to strengthen the economy and pay down debt.
Factcheck: Tariffs on imported goods are paid by consumers, because they are levied on top of the import price, and thus end up lifting prices in the shops.
Trump turns to AI, reminding Davos of $500bn Stargate AI project announced involving OpenAI, Oracle and SoftBank.
Trump cites reports that Saudi Arabia will be investing at least $600bn in America.
He declares that he’ll be asking the Crown Prince, “who’s a fantastic guy”, to round it up to around 1 trillion. “I think they’ll do that”.
Ever the businessman, Trump makes a pitch to business people at Davos, saying there will be “no better place on earth” to create jobs, build factories or grow a company than “right here in the good old USA”.
Trump runs through some of his actions this week, including an executive order directing the cabinet to defeat inflation, a federal hiring freeze, a federal regulation freeze, a foreign aid freeze, the new Department of government efficiency.
He says:
“I terminated the ridiculous and incredibly wasteful Green New Deal. I call it the Green new scam.”
Trump launches into an attack on Joe Biden (hardly necessary, as he’s won the election now), saying his administration is acting with unprecedented speed to fix the “disasters” inherited from “a totally inept group of people”.
He claims Biden’s “$8trn in wasteful deficit spending”, energy restrictions, regulations and hidden taxes had resulted in “the worst inflation crisis in modern history”
Factcheck: US inflation did tick up in December, but at 2.9% it is much lower than during the price spike caused by the Ukraine war
Trump: We’re entering a golden age of America
Trump begins by saying hello to “everyone in beautiful Davos”.
He says the US has entered the “golden age of America” [someone at the back of the hall guffaws], and claims that his election victory (including taking the seven swing states) was “a massive mandate from the American people”.
The world has witnessed a “revolution of common sense”, he declares, which will lead to a “stronger, wealthier and more united” country than ever before.
The entire planet will be more peaceful and prosperous too, he promises.
WEF founder Klaus Schwab takes the stage, and tries to start the video link to the US.
Are you there, Mr President?
“Hello” says Donald Trump, as he appears behind a lecturn, to some scattered applause.
Schwab says it is a “great honor and pleasure” to have Trump with us.
Once Donald Trump has given his speech, WEF will hold a “dialogue’ with the new US president.
On the stage, we’re expecting:
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Stephen A. Schwarzman, Chairman, Chief Executive Officer and Co-Founder, Blackstone Group
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Brian Moynihan, Chair and Chief Executive Officer, Bank of America
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Ana Botín, Executive Chair, Banco Santander
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Patrick Pouyanné, Chairman of the Board and Chief Executive Officer, TotalEnergies
The congress hall is filling up with Davos attendees – this is the final speech of the day here at WEF.