DAVOS, Switzerland (news agencies) — As the World Economic Forum’s annual gabfest got into full swing Tuesday, U.S. President Donald Trump gave everybody something to talk about with his actions on his first day back in office.
Energy industry executives could consider Trump’s vow to “drill, baby, drill.” Foreign leaders deciphered what he meant by his wish to expand U.S. territory. Trade advocates digested the unveiling of his “External Revenue Service” to collect tariffs and duties — a concern for many business leaders at the elite gathering.
From the earliest speeches, panel discussions and back-channel meetings in the Swiss Alpine town of Davos, Trump’s executive orders and evocative oratory were setting tongues wagging.
Here’s a look at some major themes Tuesday in Davos.
Right from the start, participants were able to riff off of Trump’s new tack.
For all his various pronouncements, European leaders put a big focus on the fight against global warming after his executive order directing the U.S. government to pull out of the Paris climate pact — again.
The head of the European Union’s executive branch, Ursula von der Leyen, called the 2015 accord “the best hope for all humanity” and vowed “Europe will stay the course, and keep working with all nations that want to protect nature and stop global warming.”
The pact — which is voluntary for countries — aims to limit long-term global warming to 1.5 degrees Celsius (2.7 degrees Fahrenheit) above pre-industrial levels or at least keep temperature rises well under 2 degrees Celsius (3.6 Fahrenheit).
Before her speech, climate activists unfurled a banner over the main Davos Congress Center atrium that read, “Tax the super-rich! Fund a just and green future.”
Even without the U.S. government, the private sector and countries leading the clean energy transition like China are continuing to work on climate change.
“The world is undergoing an energy transition that is unstoppable,” United Nations climate chief Simon Stiell said, adding that “the door remains open” if the U.S. wants to get back into the Paris accord one day.
Business leaders and political pundits — as often with Trump — sought to cut through the bluster and over-the-top pronouncements like his call for U.S. territorial expansion or the renaming of the Gulf of Mexico as the “Gulf of America.”
Europe, like the United States seen as a paragon of democratic values, has been riven by political discord in countries like France and Germany. Some recently ascendant leaders like Italy’s Giorgia Meloni — who was invited to the inauguration — have cast themselves as more Trump-friendly.
Alain Berset, a former Swiss president who heads the Council of Europe, which defends human rights and supports democracy, said he was “not surprised” by Trump’s speech.
Speaking to media, he said Trump returned to power in a democratic election, but democracy must be continually defended.
“We are witnessing a backsliding in democracy everywhere in the world, even in the most advanced democracy,” Berset said. “It is a movement into the bad — in the wrong direction.”
German Chancellor Olaf Scholz, who has lashed out at Trump ally Elon Musk’s support for the European far-right, was expected to speak later Tuesday .
Scholz’s hold on power in economically sluggish Germany appears tenuous: His Social Democrats are trailing third in polls showing conservative Friedrich Merz is the favorite to become the next chancellor after the Feb. 23 elections.
Merz himself is set to take part in a discussion in Davos late in the day Tuesday.
During his presidential campaign, Trump said he could end the Russia-Ukraine war in one day. He didn’t mention either country in his inaugural address, even if he did say he wants to be “a peacemaker and a unifier” more generally.
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