On January 23, President Donald Trump delivered a polite but firm address to the World Economic Forum. At the annual gathering in Davos, he detailed a muscular platform of American sovereignty to the arch-denizens of a "rules-based international order" that finds itself in retreat throughout the west.
Trump spent a good portion of his speech repudiating the administration of former President Joe Biden, who spent four years in office presenting himself as a 50-year champion of that progressive internationalist vision. “My administration is acting with unprecedented speed to fix the disasters we’ve inherited from a totally inept group of people and to solve every single crisis facing our country,” Trump told a roomful of global bigwigs.
The Name of the Blame
Trump excoriated Biden for allowing inflation to spiral out of control, failing to secure the US border, and embracing exorbitantly expensive climate change schemes. “From the moment I took office, I’ve taken rapid action to reverse each and every one of these radical left policies that created this calamity – in particular, with immigration, crime, and inflation,” Trump declared.
“I terminated the ridiculous and incredibly wasteful Green New Deal – I call it the ‘Green New Scam’; withdrew from the one-sided Paris Climate Accord; and ended the insane and costly electric vehicle mandate. We’re going to let people buy the car they want to buy,” he added.
Biden was the expressed target of Trump’s chastisement, but all in attendance knew the rebuke wouldn’t stop there. The 45th and now 47th US president spoke of disastrous “radical left” measures, but he could have just as easily used the term “globalist.”
The World Economic Forum has spent decades promoting an international “right” to mass migration that saw its full flowering in America under Biden’s watch. Its flagship annual meeting at Davos has devoted much of its event time to advancing the Paris Climate Accord through sessions with world leaders, top business CEOs, and climate change advocates. And what about crime? The WEF has advocated for decarceration (the emptying of prisons) as part of its “social innovation” designs for the West.
The Unbridgeable Gulf Between Trump and Davos
Trump, in his WEF address, did not flinch from threatening tariffs on the international trade scene. “If you don’t make your product in America, which is your prerogative, then, very simply, you will have to pay a tariff – differing amounts, but a tariff – which will direct hundreds of billions of dollars and even trillions of dollars into our Treasury to strengthen our economy and pay down debt,” he bluntly stated.
Trump also talked up his energy emergency executive order, vowing to “unlock the liquid gold under our feet and pave the way for rapid approvals of new energy infrastructure.” It all sounded like a dreaded word for supporters of global supply chains: autarky. “The United States has the largest amount of oil and gas of any country on Earth, and we’re going to use it,” Trump exclaimed.
It went largely unexpressed on January 23, but the tension in the air between this bold stance for national sovereignty and the call for transnational global “consensus” was palpable. “In rhetoric and actions, Trump has indicated that the US is entering an era of reduced regulations and enhanced pro-business policies,” the WEF gingerly wrote of Trump’s address.
Come now. The organization knows it’s a lot more than that.
“Nonetheless, business leaders have also long expressed concern over Trump’s protectionist rhetoric and positions,” the same article on the WEF website continued. “Trump, for instance, routinely threatens to impose tariffs – which most economists agree are inflationary and suppress economic growth – on major economies like China, Canada and Mexico.”
Beyond the feelings of imminent conflict, there lurks another emotion: fear.
Ian Bremmer, president and founder of the Eurasia Group, a global consulting firm, said Trump “shouldn't be treated like ‘another president – he’s not,’” wrote the WEF, speaking about a group discussion called “47th US Presidency, Early Thoughts," which was held with a panel of experts before Trump’s address.
“It’s a very unusual time to have an individual that is in no way concerned or constrained by the rule of law,” Bremmer asserted. “Many of us will find a way to get on with this, but it doesn’t mean it’s normal.”
A global colleague on the panel shared similar thoughts.
Something new and strange is happening,” said Graham Allison, a professor at the Harvard Kennedy School of Government. “The fact that Trump has staged ‘the greatest comeback in political history’ means the new US president ‘thinks he can do anything,’ he said,” the organization relates.
These are the words of persons lamenting that an old order is coming to an end.
“After four long years, the United States is strong and sovereign and a beautiful nation once again. It’s a strong, sovereign nation,” Trump told his Davos audience. Forget the spin about business implications. This is the heart of the Trump message to the world. American sovereignty is back. It’s the last thing in the world the World Economic Forum ever wanted to hear.
