U.S. President Donald Trump addressed the Davos World Economic ForumDonald Trump addressed the Davos World Economic Forum remotely today, on a panel with CEOs from Bank of America, Santander, Total and others, who asked polite questions. He announced that the U.S. was open for business and that those who were willing to invest in the U.S. economy would be welcome. If not, there would be tariffs, as he claimed the U.S. had been unfairly treated by almost everyone. He uses tariff as a verb, “to tariff.”
Trump focused on how the U.S. intended to become a major energy producer, building up its LNG capabilities. Saying that the U.S. needs to double its energy (electricity), he then offered the one concrete directive, that data centers must be able to stand up their own generating plants. Some of them even have coal nearby, implying they have been disallowed from using it. He criticized the EU for its restrictions on U.S. products.
Trump spoke strongly about the need to stop the war in Ukraine, which, as he said, is taking so many young lives. He said little about how he hoped to accomplish it, and he criticized Saudi Arabia for not bringing down oil prices, which, he implied, would reduce Russia’s ability to carry on the conflict, and therefore, he implied, contribute to a resolution of the conflict. He said that Ukraine’s Zelenskyy was ready to settle.
