Trump to take virtual center stage in Davos

by Laurent Thomet and Raziye Akkoc

Donald Trump on Thursday will star in an eagerly-anticipated online appearance at the World Economic Forum in Davos, addressing global elites whose annual gabfest has been consumed by the U.S. president's days-old second term.

Trump's name has come up in almost every conversation in the Swiss Alpine village this week: in formal panel discussions, in shuttles ferrying people up and down the mountain, and in exclusive parties along the promenade.

"Trump is a provocateur. He enjoys being a provocateur, and many people at Davos are bored in their life. He's not boring. So, you know, it's kind of exciting," Harvard scholar and WEF regular Graham Allison told AFP.

Davos will finally hear from the man himself during a live video appearance, with banking and oil industry CEOs given the chance to lob questions at Trump, himself a businessman who made his fortune in real estate.

He already gave Davos a taste of what is to come since his inauguration on Monday, which coincided with the WEF's first day: tariff threats against Mexico and Canada, the US withdrawal from the Paris climate pact, a threat to take the Panama Canal, just to name a few.

His plans to cut taxes, reduce the size of the federal government and deregulate industries will find a sympathetic ear amongst many businesses.

"Trump has been running America like America Inc. He's been very focused on getting the best advantage for the US in any way that he can," Julie Teigland, a managing partner at EY consulting firm, told AFP.

"He knows that he needs trade partners to do that. He does. And so I expect him to give messages along these lines," she said.

- 'Celebrate Trump' -

Trump will be quizzed by Bank of America chief executive Brian Moynihan, Blackstone investment firm boss Stephen Schwarzman, Spanish group Banco Santander executive chairwoman Ana Botin and the head of French oil and gas giant TotalEnergies Patrick Pouyanne.

One of the Republican president's biggest cheerleaders on the world stage, Argentina's libertarian President Javier Milei, will make a speech to the WEF on Thursday, hours before Trump.

"The world should celebrate the arrival of President Trump," Milei said at a Bloomberg event on Wednesday.

"The golden era he proposes for the United States will shine a light for the whole world as it will spell the end of the woke ideology, which is doing so much harm to the planet," Milei said.

One of his backers in the business world, Marc Benioff, the chief executive of US tech firm Salesfoce, was also enthusiastic at the same Bloomberg chat.

"I'm very positive," he said. "I'm just looking forward to seeing what's going to happen. And it's a new day and, it's an exciting moment."

- 'No winners' -

US trade partners and rivals already had a chance to react in Davos earlier this week, as they brace for a second round of his America First policies.

Without invoking Trump's name, Chinese Vice Premier Ding Xuexiang warned that "there are no winners in a trade war".

German Chancellor Olaf Scholz vowed to defend free trade but took a conciliatory tone, saying that he had good earlier discussions with Trump.

European Union chief Ursula von der Leyen said Brussels was ready to negotiate with Trump, but she also underscored the bloc's diverging policy with him on climate, saying it would stick by the Paris accord.

Panama's President Jose Raul Mulino dismissed Trump's claims to the Panama Canal, which was built by the United States but handed to the Central American country in 1999 under two-decade old treaties.

Mulino said he was "not worried" and that Panama would not be "distracted by this type of statement".

© Agence France-Presse