President Donald Trump landed Thursday in Switzerland, where his outsized personality and determination to push an ‘America First’ agenda is already upending the annual Davos conference.
To an extent, the annual confab of billionaires and CEOs was already centering around Trump even before Air Force One touched down in Zurich, then flew aboard Marine One to Davos in the Swiss Alps. Trump waved to a bank of cameras when he arrived, before being immediately whisked away to the annual gathering of heads of state and business leaders.
German Chancellor Angela Merkel took on isolationism and protectionism in her remarks here Wednesday, while French President Emmanuel Macron took a dig at Trump over global warming.
Trump’s advisors have forecast that he will give a full-throated defense of his ‘America First’ policies in a Friday speech, at a time when the conference is wrapping up.
President Donald Trump waves as he arrives in Zurich, Switzerland January 25, 2018
He’s also planning to hobnob with other world leaders at a reception the White House said is being held in his honor. He’ll also court European business leaders to try to persuade them to invest in the U.S.
But it was Trump’s unexpected comments about Robert Mueller’s Russia probe that made headlines as he took off for Europe.
‘I’m looking forward to it, actually,’ Trump, told reporters in a surprise press availability in the White House. ‘I would do it under oath,’ he said.
Trump’s posture – wary of global pacts to fight climate change and blasting global trade deals as a ‘ripoff’ to the U.S. – as adverse to some of the overall sentiment at an event that brings celebrities, U.S. politicians and operatives from both parties, and leaders from around the world together.
The theme of the 2018 conference is ‘Creating a Shared Future in a Fractured World.’
President Donald Trump steps off Air Force One on arrival at Zurich International Airport for the Davos World Economic Forum, Thursday, Jan. 25, 2018, in Zurich, Switzerland
President Donald Trump waves as he arrives in Zurich, Switzerland January 25, 2018
Macron, who is getting a state visit to the U.S. in a high honor, rapped Trump in his opening remarks here.
‘When you arrive here and see the snow, it could be hard to believe in global warming,’ he joked. ‘Obviously you don’t invite anyone skeptical about global warming this year.’
Trump previewed how he would herald the U.S. in a tweet shortly before he took off.
‘Will soon be heading to Davos, Switzerland, to tell the world how great America is and is doing. Our economy is now booming and with all I am doing, will only get better…Our country is finally WINNING again!’ he wrote.
Trump’s Commerce secretary, Wilbur Ross, has warned new U.S. trade actions could be coming.
But Alibaba CEO Jack Ma warned here: ‘Don’t use trade as a weapon.’ He added: ‘It’s so easy to launch a trade war, but it’s so difficult to stop the disaster of this war.’
Security at the secretive mountain resort of Davos was ramped up on Thursday morning ahead of the arrival of President Trump.
A tight operation was also in place in Zurich, where the President was due to stop briefly before being ferried to Davos, with heavily armoured police vehicles guarding the tarmac.
Helicopters swooped low out of a red morning sky like a scene from Vietnam war film Apocalypse Now ahead of the President’s arrival.
Trump boarded Marine One out of Washington on Wednesday evening and was expected to arrive in Zurich by mid-morning Thursday, before being ferried to Davos.
A squadron of helicopters swooped out of a red morning sky and into Zurich airport on Thursday morning ahead of the arrival of President Trump, who was due to stop there before moving on to Davos
A heavily armoured police vehicle sits on the tarmac at Zurich awaiting the arrival of President Trump on board Marine One
US helicopters stop to refuel at Zurich airport before escorting Trump to Davos, where he is due to spend the next two days speaking with world and business leaders
In Davos itself security was also being stepped up, with snipers positioned on rooftops around the ski resort
A Swiss Army helicopter patrols the skies above Davos, where the World Economic Forum is being held this week
He will spend two days mingling among the ‘globalists’ he spent much of the 2016 election campaign trashing, before delivering a speech on Friday.
The President is expected to push his America First agenda and seek more fair, reciprocal trade deals with allies, having bemoaned chronic trade deficits with many of them in the past.
‘America first is not America alone,’ said White House senior economic adviser Gary Cohn, who is traveling with Trump. ‘When we grow, the world grows; when the world grows, we grow. We’re part of it, and we’re part of a world economy. And the president believes that.’
Trump, never invited as a businessman, will be the first U.S. president to attend Davos since Bill Clinton in 2000.
In the run-up to his trip to Davos, Trump slapped a 30 per cent tariff on imported solar panels, among the first unilateral trade restrictions imposed by the administration as part of a broader protectionist agenda.
Then on Wednesday in Davos, U.S. Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin said he welcomed a weakening in the dollar. Fears of protectionist trade policies by the United States had already pushed the greenback to a three-year low, and Mnuchin’s remark pushed it down further.
Trump left Washington on board Marine One on Wednesday night bound for Davos, where he promised to push his America First agenda among globalist leaders he spent the 2016 election campaign trashing
Marine One took Trump to Andrews Air Force Base where he switched to Air Force One before heading to Switzerland
President Donald Trump boards Air Force One for a trip to the World Economic Forum in Davos
Donald Trump issued this tweet before leaving for Davos on Wednesday, outlining his priorities for the summit
Trump will use his trip for some diplomacy. He has meetings with British Prime Minister Theresa May and Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on Thursday and Rwandan President Paul Kagame, current chairman of the African Union, and Swiss President Alain Berset on Friday.
Iran’s growing influence in the Middle East, North Korea’s nuclear challenge and the battle against Islamic State militants figured to be prominent topics of his meetings.
French President Emmanuel Macron told RTS channel that he had ‘strongly recommended’ to Trump to attend the Davos forum during a recent phone conversation they had on Iran … ‘because I think it’s a good thing for President Trump to explain his strategy for the U.S. and the world here in Davos.
‘And that he encounters some form of confrontation and dialogue,’ Macron said.
Trump will host a small dinner for European business executives on Thursday night.
There is broad concern in European capitals that 2018 could be the year Trump’s bark on trade turns into bite, as he considers punitive measures on steel and threatens to end the 90s-era North American Free Trade Agreement with Canada and Mexico.
Trump will appeal for increased global investment in the United States to take advantage of corporate tax cuts approved by Congress late in 2017 and Trump’s deregulatory policies.