All this talk of dinner is making us hungry. So we’re off into Davos, where the cars are queued bumper to bumper and the global elite are tucking into canapés and fizz.
Here’s our news story about the big news of the day - the clash between Trump and Thunberg. Goodnight!
Late news: we’ve heard that France and the US could agree a ceasefire in their dispute over how tech giants are taxed.
Huawei’s founder was in combative mood today:
The CEOs dining with Trump tonight
More than 20 top bosses are dining with Donald Trump tonight, including the bosses of Saudi Aramco, Sony, Softbank, BP and Barclays.
Here’s the full list, via the White House pool.
- Dr. Patrice Motsepe, Founder & Executive Chairman, African Rainbow Minerals, South Africa
- Hiroshi Mikitani, Chairman & Chief Executive Officer, Rakuten Inc., Japan
- Dr. Joerg Reinhardt, Chairman of the Board of Directors, Novartis AG, Switzerland
- Sergio P. Ermotti, Group Chief Executive Officer, UBS AG, Switzerland
- Joe Kaeser, President & Chief Executive Officer, Siemens AG, Germany
- Amin H. Nasser, President & Chief Executive Officer, Saudi Aramco, Saudi Arabia
- Tidjane Thiam, Chief Executive Officer, Credit Suisse AG, Switzerland
- Kenichiro Yoshida, President & Chief Executive Officer, Sony Corporation, Japan
- Gianni Infantino, President, Fédération Internationale de Football Association, Switzerland
- Jes Staley, Group Chief Executive Officer, Barclays, United Kingdom
- Robert Dudley, Group Chief Executive, BP Plc, United Kingdom
- Ben van Beurden, Chief Executive Officer, Royal Dutch Shell Plc, Netherlands
- Bill Thomas, Global Chairman, KPMG, Canada
- Dr. Herbert Diess, Chief Executive Officer, Volkswagen AG, Germany
- Rajeev Suri, President and Chief Executive Officer, Nokia Corporation, Finland
- Farouk A Bastaki, Managing Director & Chairman of the Executive Committee, Kuwait Investment Authority (KIA), Kuwait
- Lim Chow Kiat, Chief Executive Officer, GIC Private Limited (Government of Singapore Investment Corporation Private Limited), Singapore
- Dilhan Pillay Sandrasegara, Chief Executive Officer, Temasek International Pte Ltd, Singapore
- Bernard Arnault, Chairman and Chief Executive Officer, LVMH Moët Hennessy, France
- Börje Ekholm, President and Chief Executive Officer, Telefonaktiebolaget LM Ericsson, Sweden
- Masayoshi Son, Chief Executive Officer, SoftBank, Japan
- Rajeev Misra, Board Director & Executive Vice President, SoftBank, Japan
- Ana Botin, Group Executive Chairman, Banco Santander, Spain
- Lakshmi Mittal, Chairman and Chief Executive Officer, ArcelorMittal, Luxembourg
- Mansoor Bin Ebrahim Al Mahmoud, Chief Executive Officer, Qatar Investment Authority, Qatar
FIFA CEO: Trump is a winner
Gianno Infantino, FIFA president, gave Donald Trump a soccer ball at tonight’s global CEOs dinner “just to remind everyone what the real priority is of life.”
That’s according to the White House press pool, who also report that Infantino then doused Trump in flattery:
Infantino compared POTUS to the world-class athletes he often interacts with: “President Trump is made of the same sort of fiber.
He is competitive... He wants to win.”
I’m tempted to book Infantino for excessive creeping.
Photos: Trump at Davos
US President Donald Trump has held a series of meetings with world leaders today, having installed his team in a prime suite in WEF’s congress centre.
That includes Swiss Confederation President Simonetta Sommaruga (who criticised the move towards divisive populism during her speech to WEF today).
Sommaruga and Trump apparently discussed “bilateral issues and reiterated their interest in boosting trade ties”.
... and European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen.
Donald Trump is now enjoying a dinner with top CEOs in Davos, including FIFA President Gianni Infantino, we see....
Updated
Harvard economist Ken Rogoff has pulled Kudlow up short, over his claims that countries should just cut tax rates, deregulate, and let the economy run along.
Kudlow in Davos, at panel on fiscal/monetary space, says "Cutting marginal tax rates and reducing regulations is so much more fun than waiting for the central bank."
— Kate Davidson (@KateDavidson) January 21, 2020
"Well, until you have a financial crisis," Ken Rogoff replies.
Kudlow: Fed is doing QE4
Oof! Larry Kudlow agrees that the Federal Reserve is quietly conducting a new quantitative easing scheme, even if it denies it.
Donald Trump’s economics expert says that the Fed’s recent policy of buying $60bn of short-term Treasury bills is effectively a stimulus programme
The Fed claims it’s simply providing liquidity to keep the plumping of the financial system flowing. But Kudlow isn’t convinced, pointing out that the markets aren’t either!
The net effect is that they are expanding the balance sheet, whatever you want to call it. It’s no wonder the stock market and the housing market is rising.
Larry Kudlow then hints that the Federal Reserve could consider cutting borrowing costs....
Speaking delicately, he says the Fed has done a good job in 2019, reversing its rate rises in 2018.
I wouldn’t mind seeing them be a little bolder. Our short-term rates in and around the Fed Funds market could be a little lower.
I wouldn’t want to criticise them, though, Kudlow adds (not that this has ever stopped his boss!).
In case anyone missed his message the first time, Kudlow reiterates that:
These negative rates are just not helping banks recover.
Kudlow hits out at negative rates and high European taxes
Now that the excitement of Trump vs Thunberg has died down, we can focus on other matters.
A heavyweight panel is gathering now, to discuss the threat of a liquidity trap.
Gita Gopinath, Chief Economist at the International Monetary Fund, explains that a liquidity trap occurs when there is a massive appetite for liquid assets. That means people will still buy them at very high prices (as we currently see for eurozone sovereign debt, for example).
This makes monetary policy ineffective, as interest rates no longer work as a tool.
That would be a problem in the next downturn, Gopinath explains, as central banks wouldn’t be able to stimulate growth.
This is a timely issue, as interest rates in many countries are at or near record lows!
Larry Kudlow, Donald Trump’s chief economic advisor, weighs in -- he says negative interest rates are a bad idea.
Negative rates are not a good idea. They’re really bad for banks, they’re really bad for savers, they’re not good for investors.
Q: But Donald Trump is envious that other countries get them and the US doesn’t...
He’s keener than I am, Kudlow jokes, saying that Trump’s background as a real estate developer means he loves the idea of low rates.
Kudlow also warns that monetary stimulus can’t work alone -- countries need to implement lower marginal tax rates to stimulate demand.
European countries, and Japan could do “a heck of a lot more” to boost growth, by lowering tax rates, Kudlow insists - suggesting that Trump’s tax-cutting plan has paid off (although growth has actually been below the long-term average of late)
I mentioned earlier that Donald Trump’s claim about creating 12,000 factories during his presidency was true...
...well, Rahaf Harfoush, a digital anthropologist here at WEF, tells me that many of these factories would be largely automated - so not creating many new jobs for Americans......
Our Davos heroes of the day are Joe Stiglitz and his partner Anya Schiffrin for drawing up his list of facts about the US economy under Trump....and handing them out liberally today:
Protesting Trump's talk by passing out leaflets penned by @JosephEStiglitz in Davos pic.twitter.com/HuPUu36rQ8
— Anya Schiffrin (@anyaSIPA) January 21, 2020
Now, this is what I call teamwork!
— Karen Attiah (@KarenAttiah) January 21, 2020
Nobel-prize winning economist @JosephEStiglitz wrote these leaflets setting the record straight about the economy under Trump.
His wife, @ColumbiaSIPA's @anyaSIPA passed them out during Trump's Davos address. pic.twitter.com/Q75TQDUTAq
John Ferguson, Director of country analysis at The Economist Intelligence Unit, has criticised Donald Trump’s attack on climate ‘prophets of doom’:
“Mr Trump is clearly wrong on this one. We only have to look at Australia to see the devastating impacts of climate change. The science has been telling us for years that these sort of events will become both more frequent and more severe.
The longer people like Mr Trump delay, the more costly and dangerous climate change will be.”
Moving on to another important topic, antimicrobial resistance...
A biennial report from the Access to Medicine Foundation, an Amsterdam-based non-profit group, has found that many antibiotics are unavailable in poorer countries despite higher infection rates, exacerbating the threat of drug-resistant superbugs. Common infections have become increasingly harder to treat globally.
The study, which assesses 30 of the biggest drugmakers on their efforts to address drug-resistant infections, also shows that the number of new treatments being developed for common infectious diseases such as pneumonia, tuberculosis, gonorrhoea and urinary tract infections has fallen –– to 138 from 175 projects two years ago.
The report will be presented at Davos on Thursday. The roundtable discussion will be opened by Bruno Bruins, the Dutch minister for medical care, and moderated by Professor Dame Sally Davies, UK special envoy on antimicrobial resistance and co-convener of the UN interagency coordination group on AMR. Speakers include GSK Vaccines’ chief medical officer Thomas Bruer and Charlotte Petri Gronitzka, UN assistant secretary general and the deputy executive director of partnerships at Unicef.
Here is our full story on the study.JK
Donald Trump’s claim to the Davos throng that America was enjoying an unprecedented boom might sound good, but unfortunately it doesn’t ring totally true.
Economist Ian Shepherdson points out that growth has been below long-term averages of late:
The Trump economy is indeed enjoying a boom the likes of which have never been seen before. By three year-olds. GDP growth has averaged 2.6% annualized since Trump took office (full quarters only, so that's Q217-Q319 inclusive). Average for the previous 50 years was 2.8%. #Davos
— Ian Shepherdson (@IanShepherdson) January 21, 2020
Trump could argue that he was citing the duration of the recovery -- the longest ever. But that would mean taking credit for president Obama’s work too...
My colleague Larry Elliott also caught up with Nobel prize-winning economist Joe Stiglitz, who said:
“Research shows that Trump normally tells five or six lies a day. He far exceeded that today.”
Stiglitz, who had drawn up a list of economic facts for checking purposes, also noted that growth had been faster under Obama and that life expectancy had fallen every year of Trump’s presidency.
Trump and Thunberg are battling for the headlines from Davos today.... and the Swedish teenager has the upper hand on the New York Times, we see:
.@GretaThunberg's Davos speech on the top left of the NYT home page, above Trump's.
— Dr. Genevieve Guenther (@DoctorVive) January 21, 2020
*you love to see it* pic.twitter.com/dDcwAzw3Xw
Afternoon summary
It’s been an exciting first day at Davos, where about 3,000 political and business leaders, academics, activists, celebrities and journalists have gathered for the annual World Economic Forum.
- Appearing on a panel with other young campaigners, Greta Thunberg spoke about the 18 months since she started her climate strike outside the Swedish parliament. She told world leaders to listen to the science, and later said the world is on fire. She urged leaders to act for their children’s sake. In particular, she called for an immediate end to fossil fuel investment and extraction and fossil fuel subsidies, and a general exit from fossil fuels.
- US president Donald Trump then spoke in the main conference hall (preceded by a traditional Swiss song performed by a group of tenors in national costume) and got some applause from the audience for his pledge to sign the US up to the 1tn tree planting initiative. The eye-catching pledge aside, he used his keynote speech to boast of his (supposed) achievements and declared the US was in “in the midst of an economic boom the likes of which the world has never seen before”.
- Thunberg responded: “Planting trees is good, of course, but it’s nowhere near enough.” (she spoke at another panel discussion). Greenpeace was also unimpressed with Trump’s pledge. JK
Trump's swipe at climate prophets of doom
Donald Trump may have pledged to plant more trees, but he’s not been converted to the realities of the climate emergency.
During his speech, he took a real swipe at the “perennial prophets of doom” who he claims are too gloomy.
Here’s the full section, which shows that the US president has not accepted the message from Greta Thunberg to act now.
“This is not a time for pessimism. This is a time for optimism. To embrace the possibilities of tomorrow, we must reject the perennial prophets of doom and their predictions of the apocalypse. They are the heirs of yesterday’s foolish fortune tellers.
They want to see us do badly, but we don’t let that happen. They predicted an overpopulation crisis in the 1960s, mass starvation in the 70s, and an end of oil in the 1990s. These alarmists always demand the same thing: absolute power to dominate, transform and control every aspect of our lives. We will never let radical socialists destroy our economy, wreck our country or eradicate our liberty.”
Updated
In a session on the US economy, Trump’s treasury secretary Steve Mnuchin has been challenged over the president’s claim that America is enjoying a boom like no other.
Mnuchin is careful neither to repeat Trump’s dubious boast nor to embarrass his boss.”you have to look at this on a relative basis not an absolute basis” he says, noting that the US has been growing faster while the rest of the world is slowing down.
The US has been affected by the global slowdown, the sharp drop in production of Boeing’s 737 Max and a strike at general motors.
Mnuchin says that the US trade war with China has not been a factor in slowing the global economy. Intriguingly, he says that the new US-China phase 1 trade accord will boost global growth.
Updated
Han now turns to the climate emergency.
He says the one trillion trees initiative launched at Davos this week is an important step. But he doesn’t seem to be joining it, as Donald Trump did today.
Instead, Han says China has already made progress in reforesting, and is “ready to share our experience with other countries”.
That must be disappointing for the 1t.org movement - who would like as many countries on board as possible.
Han ends by repeating his pledge that China is committed to working with other countries to build a better global economy.
Vice-president Han then promises that China will open its doors still wider to the word.
He doesn’t explicitly name the US, but we know who this passage of his speech is aimed at:
Despite the protectionist and unilateral moves by some countries, we will not stop opening up and we will not move in the opposite direction.
We are open to buy more high-quality goods from other countries, to encourage balanced trade, he continues.
On trade, Han pledges that China will lower tariffs, cut non-tariffs barriers, and create new free trade zones to spur growth.
The phase one trade deal between US and China is good for both countries, and for the world
China's VP defends globalisation at Davos
Back in the Davos congress hall, the second major speech of the day is underway -- from China’s vice-premier, Han Zheng.
He’s a senior figure in Chinese politics - one of Xi Jinping’s deputies.
Klaus Schwab is introducing Han, talking about the progress China made since “opening up” 40 years ago.
China has gone from 1.8% of global GDP to 16% since it joined WEF, Schwab says, which helped to lift people out of poverty.
Han then takes the podium, and launches a defence of globalisation.
The world economy undergoing a profound adjustment, he says. Globalisation is facing growing attacks, protectionism is spreading, and the risks and uncertainties in global economy are notably on the rise.
And he hits out at protectionism (slightly ironic, given China’s track record of protecting its own companies).
Here are the key points:
- Economic globalisation is a trend of history...and a natural result of advances in science and technology.
- In a world that is so deeply integrated, no country can cope entirely on its own.
- Rather than blaming globalisation for economic problems, we must develop an “inclusive and open world economy together”.
He declares:
We should all make the pie of the global economy bigger, and create mechanisms to share the rewards of globalisation better.
This way people in all countries can share from the benefits of globalisation and global growth.
Political scientist Ian Bremmer detects signs that Davos is preparing for another four years of Trump:
There’s literally zero panic in #Davos at prospect of Trump winning a second term (informal poll last night, typical delegate thinks he’ll win, but it’s close).
— ian bremmer (@ianbremmer) January 21, 2020
This is very far from US political twitter. pic.twitter.com/vncg17mIqi
If so, that bodes badly for the climate emergency, given he took the US off the Paris Agreement.
Dr Frederik Dahlmann, Associate Professor of Sustainability at Warwick Business School, says Greta Thunberg is right to blast Davos for the lack of progress in the last year.
He says WEF is an annual ritual of well-meaning talks and speeches, from which little progress flows:
“While the topics increasingly cover the broader challenges leaders from business and politics face, we have yet to see sufficient efforts to turn these discussions into real-world action.
“Assessments of the 17 UN Sustainable Development Goals, which include climate change, poverty, decline in biodiversity, social inequalities, peace and justice, suggest that progress is generally slow and uneven. Our world requires strong collection action from actors across business, politics and civil society to achieve the wider ambitions of the Agenda 2030.
Chris Giles of the FT was not impressed by Trump’s speech, and its lack of economic rigour:
I’m clearly in the naughty children seats at the back of the hall for Donald Trump’s speech.
— Chris Giles (@ChrisGiles_) January 21, 2020
Much tittering at his fact-free statements on the US economy
“An economic boom [in the US] the likes of which the world has never seen before” pic.twitter.com/09SGguW0we
Former UN climate warrier Christiana Figueres has also urged Davos attendees to think about younger generations, and take the necessary action on climate.
Figueres, who was the UN’s Executive Secretary on Climate Change, told leaders:
“We devote our life not to climate change. We devote our life to the quality of life our children and grandchildren will have.”
Greta: Act now for your children's sake
Greta Thunberg then outlines three demands to her audience at Davos:
- Companies, banks, institutions and governments should halt all investment in fossil fuel investment and extraction.
- immediately end all fossil fuel subsidies
- and immediately exit from fossil fuels
We don’t want it done in 2050, 2030, or even 2021, we want it done now, Thunberg continues.
You might think we’re naive, but if you won’t do it, you must explain to your children why you’ve given up on the Paris Agreement goals, and knowingly created a climate crisis, she says.
And she completes her speech with an appeal to the global elite’s hearts, as well as minds:
Our house is still on fire. Your inaction is fuelling the flames by the hour.
And we’re asking you to act as if you love your children more than anything else.
"Our world is currently on fire"
Thunberg now warns that the world is still on fire, due to lack of progress from world leaders.
“This is not not about right and left. We couldn’t care less about your party politics,” Thunberg continues (she’s being heard in absolute silence),
From a sustainability perspective, the right, the left, and the centre have all failed.
No political ideology or economic structure has managed to tackle the climate and environmental emergency and create a cohesive and sustainable world.
Because that world, in case you hadn’t noticed, is currently on fire.
Greta: planting trees isn't enough
Elsewhere in Davos, Greta Thunberg is speaking about the climate emergency again - to another packed room.
She begins with a pointed reminder that little has happened since she wowed WEF in 2019.
One year ago, I came to Davos and told you that our house is on fire.
I said I wanted you to panic. I’d been warned that telling people to panic about the climate crisis is a very dangerous thing to do.
But don’t worry, it’s fine.
Trust me, I’ve done this before, and I can assure you that it doesn’t lead to anything.
And for the record, when children tell you to panic, we’re not telling you to go on like before.
Thunberg adds that:
We’re not telling you to rely on technologies that don’t exist at scale yet, and perhaps never will.
We’re not asking you to cheat and fiddle numbers, or offset your emissions by just paying someone to plant trees in Africa while the Amazon is chopped down, Thunburg continues.
And she also puts Trump’s one trillion trees pledge in its place:
Planting trees is good, of course, but it’s nowhere near enough, and it cannot replace real mitigation and rewilding nature.
We don’t need to lower emissions....Emissions need to stop.
Updated
Greenpeace unimpressed
Jennifer Morgan, Greenpeace’s executive director, isn’t wowed by Trump’s performance, though.
The one trillion trees initiative doesn’t make up for the lack of a wider attack on the climate emergency, she tells us.
Morgan says Trump still doesn’t appear to understand the crisis:
To assume that you can have a great, profitable America, and happy Americans without understanding the risk to Americans from climate change is astounding.
It just demonstrates the level of denial, and the capture of this government by the coal, oil and gas industries.
So what should Trump, or his successor, be doing?
“He should be putting in place a comprehensive, socially just, climate plan that would drive emissions down to zero by 2040, and would leave fossil fuels in the ground.”
Updated
Rich Buckley, AstraZeneca’s global corporate affairs chief, is also pleased to hear Trump back the trillion-trees pledge today.
He tells us:
The applause [for Trump’s pledge]...demonstrates that it is a message that appeals to a global audience.
An optimistic, action-oriented approach is one that is well received.
Benioff hails Trump's trillion tree pledge
Trump’s pledge to join the one trillion trees initiative is probably the best news out of his speech.
This is an effort to plant 1 trillion trees across the globe; boosting reforestation would suck up carbon dioxide, and combat raising global temperatures.
We just caught up with Marc Benioff, head of Salesforce, who says he’s excited by Trump’s move.
I’m very excited by the trillion trees, and that the US is joining 1t.org.
It’s very important for the future that we sequester 200 gigatons as fast as possible.
Hopefully we’ll hear the same thing from the Chinese later today, Benioff adds (vice-premier Han Zheng is addressing Davos).
Wow. That’s quite a pledge from Trump. It’ll be interesting to see how Greta Thunberg responds.
There is some scepticism on Twitter whether the US president will honour this promise, though.
Updated
Earlier, Marc Benioff, the American internet entrepreneur (and a billionaire), tweeted that his cloud computing company Salesforce would plant 100m trees.
The United States has joined https://t.co/vMJ0FdlVqA 1 Trillion Tree Initiaitve. Together we will plant 1 Trillion Trees sequestering over 200 gigatons of carbon in 10 years. We must be carbon negative & sequester existing carbon now. Join us. @wef https://t.co/JEYRRKv7Q5 pic.twitter.com/DLKk44oDqg
— Marc Benioff (@Benioff) January 21, 2020
Trump gets what I think is his first applause line announcing the US will join the 1 trillion trees initiative
— Hadas Gold (@Hadas_Gold) January 21, 2020
Updated
Does he have a message for Greta Thunberg?
Trump reiterates that he is a “big believer in the environment” and that the US will join in a global initiative to plant a trillion trees. (A Swiss study published in the journal Science last year suggested fighting global heating by planting a trillion trees.) He adds:
What I want is the cleanest water and the cleanest air.
I asked @realDonaldTrump what his message for @GretaThunberg was. His answer: “I’m a very big believer in the environment. We right now are doing extremely well in the United States, but what I want is the cleanest water, the cleanest air, and that’s what we’re going to have.”
— Ed Conway (@EdConwaySky) January 21, 2020
Updated
Outside the conference hall, Trump speaks to reporters. He reckons his speech was “well received” and notes that “200 of the biggest companies in the world were in the room” – many of which will be investing in the US, he claims.
That means jobs, that means economic development. We are doing well and we are going to do a lot better.
Updated
The US president has finished his speech.
I’m not sure anyone’s expected Notre Dame to feature, but Trump is now hailing the inspiringly reaction to its recent fire.
With an eye on November’s election, Trump is now attacking “radical socialism”...
Updated
Trump: US will join 1 trillion tree initiative
In a thinly-veiled dig at Greta Thunberg and other climate protesters, Trump says
We must reject the perennial prophets of doom.
This is not a time for pessimism. This is a time for optimism.
But make no mistake, before he entered the conference hall the US president claimed he cared deeply about the environment.
I’m a big believer in the environment. The environment to me is very important.
Importantly, the US president then signs the US up to the 1 trillion tree initiative -- to plant about a trillion trees around the world.
Updated
Trump: we could do tremendous trade deal with UK
On Brexit, Trump says he hopes to agree a tremendous trade deal with the UK, adding that PM Boris Johnson also wants to do this.
The US president has praise for the UK’s leader Boris Johnson, calling him “a wonderful new prime minister” who “wants very much to make a deal” on trade [following Brexit].
Updated
Trump has a pop at the Obama administration, talking about the “wreckage” that he inherited.
On to trade... Trump says negotiations with China on a Phase Two trade deal will start shortly. Last week, the world’s two biggest economies finally signed the long-awaited Phase One agreement.
Our relationship with China has right now probably never been better. We went through a rough patch...
... but now we love each other, he says, referring to China’s leader.
Updated
Julia Kollewe taking over
Trump continues to trumpet his achievements, now turning to families with children, saying his administration had doubled child tax credit for 40m American families. He then adds America has some of the lowest taxes in the world.
Tremendous wealth is pouring into areas that for 100 years saw nothing.
There is no better place on earth than the United States.
Updated
Trump criticises the Fed
No Trump speech is complete without a pop at the US central bank.
The president says that the economic boom has happened “despite” the US Federal Reserve, which “raised rates too fast and cut them too slowly”.
The time for scepticism is over. People are flowing back, he says, thanking business leaders who have moved factories into the US.
I hold up the American model as an example to the world, Trump declares. Pro worker, pro citizen, and pro family.
America is enjoying a blue-collar boom, Trump insists, citing wage data showing that those at the bottom are seeing stronger wage growth.
He tells his audience of global elite:
The American dream is back, bigger and better than before
60,000 factories we’re lost under the last administration, and we’ve gained 12,000 on my watch, Trump adds (a claim that was rated as broadly true recently).
We’ve gained 7 million jobs since I took over, Trump continues -- saying he had this target in his head when he took over but didn’t mention it (hmmm).
The president cites the good progress on unemployment, for minority groups and women.
And he then claims to be tackling inequality and spreading wealth. That’s questionable, given the world’s top billionaires (many Americans) became 25% richer last year.
Trump: We're winning like never before
Trump takes the podium, saying it’s an honour to be at WEF.
And he’s straight into banging the drum about how well America is doing.
I’m proud to say that the US is in an economic boom, the likes of which the world has never seen before, says Trump.
America is thriving, flourishing, and winning like never before, he continues, citing the trade deals signed last week with China, and Mexico-Canada. Those deals are a model for the 21st century, he claims
He claims the US was flagging when he took over, and that pessimism had taken root among business leaders and other influential figures. But under his watch, things are improving.....
Here comes Donald Trump!
Klaus Schwab is welcoming the US president back to the stage, for the second time (after 2018).
It is an honour to host you, Mr President, says Schwab -- who has never knowingly under-flattered a world leader.
Over the last three years, the US economy has enjoyed growth and dynamism, Schwab continues, citing stock market growth, and the very low unemployment rate in the US
Words alone cannot capture the scene....
And this is how the #Davos2020 receives Trump. Two years ago there was also a band on the stage before he delivered his address. Angelicos... pic.twitter.com/GRDyavYCB2
— Jorge Valero (@europressos) January 21, 2020
In a classic ‘only at Davos’ moment, a group of Swiss musicians have appeared on stage in full national costume.
They’re singing a much-loved Swiss anthem, rather movingly (anything to break the boredom in and outside the hall).
Laughter in the overflow room as delegates awaiting @realDonaldTrump's speech to #WEF2020 in Davos hear the announcer say: "Ladies and gentlemen, we now present a special performance of an iconic Swiss song..."
— A Edgecliffe-Johnson (@Edgecliffe) January 21, 2020
Outside the Congress Hall, a large crowd are gathered near to a white double door where president Trump should soon appear.
Our live feed isn’t broken, don’t worry. It simply lacks a president....
Swiss president attacks populist politics
The WEF are now showing a video about the loss of biodiversity, and how use of pesticides mean bees are dying out.
Simonetta Sommaruga, president of the Swiss Confederation, is calling for action, saying it is a mistake to place economic interests above the functioning of the natural world.
Biodiversity is like the Eiffel Tower, she says. Take away one screw a day, and nothing happens at first. But then you take away one too many....and everything collapses.
Sommaruga also launches a stirring attack on populism, saying she looks at the state of the world with concern.
Passions are being stirred to achieve political goals, through the use of intolerance, hatred and revenge, she says.
Over to you, president Trump.....
Updated
Klaus Schwabb, founder of the World Economic Forum (50 years ago!) is on the stage now.
He tells the audience of “global stake holders” that there is a “general loss of trust and confidence among people, along with profound pessimism and cynicism”.
But each of us can help create a better world, Schwabb insists, whether you’re a politician, business leader, the head of an NGO, an activist, a cultural leader or a young person.
That’s certainly what four young people -- Greta Thunberg, Natasha Mwansa, Salvador Gómez-Colón and Autumn Peltier -- demanded this morning.
Schwabb is now giving a gushing welcome to the Swiss president for all the help keeping Davos going all these years.
Trump must be along soon....
While we wait for Donald Trump, here’s our news story on Greta Thunberg’s call for climate action.
Mary Beard: Davos schmoozing can be worth it
Cambridge classics professor Mary Beard adds that she’s hoping to encourage the global elite to think about history during her time at Davos:
History isn’t going to solve the world’s problems, but it can help you think about the world’s problems in a more complicated and subtle way.
She also suggests we shouldn’t dismiss Davos as simply a place for partying. Some good can come out of it too, she tells me (before heading towards the Trump speech).
Every time you hear it on the news, it’s ‘Mr So-and-So is at the schmooze-fest at Davos’.
Maybe it is..but there’s worst things to do than schmoozing, if actually what you’re doing is talking and thinking hard at the same time.
I just ran into top academic Mary Beard in the Davos scrum.
She’s no fan of Trump, of course, but argues that it’s better for people on different sides to be talking.
It’s her first Davos; not as monocultural and blokish as she expected, apparently
Updated
As in 2018, Trump is hogging all the limelight at Davos - and he’s not even here yet! But he must be close...
The Davos congress hall is filling up with delegates waiting to listen to Trump.
Many of the rest are hanging around outside for a glimpse of the president’s arrival...
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No sign of Trump yet, but there’s a growing buzz in the Congress Centre ahead of his arrival. People have bene queuing to get into the congress hall for an hour
Heads-up. US President Donald Trump has arrived in Switzerland to attend the World Economic Forum.
Air Force One landed at Zurich Airport shortly after dawn this morning.
The passengers then transferred to a flock of helicopters for the 45 minute journey up the mountains to Davos (the train would be more environmentally friendly...).
According to the White House press pool, Trump boarded Marine One, which lifted off at 8:51 am Davos time (7.51am GMT).
Salvador Gómez-Colón, who organized Light and Hope for Puerto Rico after Hurricane Maria, chides the media for paying too much attention to inconsequential stories, rather than issues that really matter.
Finally, fellow teenage activist Autumn Peltier (who has been campaigning for cleaner water since she was 8) wraps up the session with some sage advice:
If you have an idea, or a solution, or a way you can help us, just do it.
And that’s a wrap. Four young activists have got this year’s WEF underway, with a display of passion and determination that the rest of Davos will struggle to match.
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Thunberg: We're running out of time
Q: So how do you all deal with the haters?
Autumn Peltier says she and her mother get a lot of negative comments -- and they ignore it.
Greta Thunberg sweeps the question aside, and produces a statement she’d like to read instead.
She cites the IPCC report on climate change from 2018, which explained how few years are left to act if there’s a 67% chance of keeping the global temperature rise to below 1.5%.
With today’s emissions levels, the remaining budget is gone in less than eight years.
These aren’t anyone’s views, this is the science.
Thunberg adds that such forecasts doesn’t include feedback loops and tipping points, and also often assume that “future generations will somehow suck hundreds of billions of tonnes of CO2 out of the atmosphere, even though such technology doesn’t exist yet.”
She tells Davos:
I’ve been repeating these numbers at nearly every speech I’ve given for the last 18 months.
I know you don’t want to report about these numbers, but I’ll keep saying them until you do, Thunberg concludes.
Q: What can the media do better to help young activists?
Natasha Mwanga says the media has the power to put us at the centre of the conversation. But they only focus on stories for a couple of days, then get bored and drop them.
She points out that the media has huge power, as the ‘fourth estate’. Journalists should use that power to “bring us hope”.
Autumn Peltier makes another good point -- on the damaging impact of negative comments online. If you want to say something bad about us, just don’t.
Q: Do activists feel they are being heard enough?
Greta gives the audience the giggles, by pointing out that she doesn’t have a problem here.
I can’t complain about being heard, I’m being heard all the time.
But science isn’t at the centre of the conversation, and it needs to be.
Q: So what needs to happen to tackle environmental and social issues that you all care about?
Canadian water activist Autumn Peltier says that we need more people, children and adults, to make their voices heard.
Speaking at the World Economic Forum today will help, she says, as it’s a global stage for young activists.
But she also warns not to simply hand activists awards, instead of listening to them.
I don’t want your awards... Award me by making the changes I want to see, Peltier adds.
Salvador Gómez-Colón has a neat idea -- young activists could “mentor leaders”, and give them the knowledge and skills they need.
Natasha Mwansa adds that young activists could consider more practical action, rather than limiting their work to posting on social media.
Climate activists: We've got the energy and ideas
Natasha Wang Mwansa, the 18-year old women’s and girls’ activist from Zambia, has issued a loud warning to the global elite that young activists are determined to change the world.
We are able to step out and say ‘this is what we want’, explains Mwansa. “We haven’t let our age stop us.”
And she wins whooping and clapping from the packed-out audience by declaring:
The older generation has experience, but we have ideas and energy.
Speaking passionately and engagingly, Mwansa says that we should put young activists in the same room as the UN secretary-general - so they can use work together and his power for good.
Salvador Gómez-Colón weights in here too, saying that young activists are tired of being given promises that aren’t delivered.
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Salvador Gómez-Colón, the 16-year old activist from San Juan, Puerto Rico, speaks next.
He says world leaders need to stop treating climate change as a political issue, a social-economic issue or a racial issue.
The climate crisis just is. And until we address that, we’re not getting anywhere.
Gómez-Colón then warns his audience that the young activists are not going to wait five, 10 or 20 years to execute change..
We’re not the future, we’re the present. And we’re acting now.
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Clean water advocate Autumn Peltier, speaks next.
Peltier, a member of the Wikwemikong First Nation, says she has seen a lot more youths standing up for issues that matter, since she challenged Canadian PM Justin Trudeau at the age of 12
We have the courage to raise our voices, she says.
Greta Thunberg: Treat climate emergency seriously, now
The panel begins with a short film about the new wave of young climate activists around the globe -- it’s pretty inspiring, and gets a round of applause from the assembled audience.
Greta Thunberg then speaks about the remarkable 18 months since she started her climate strike.
Lots has happened that no-one could have predicted, and this has started a movement, she tells WEF.
It’s not just me, she add modestly, it is lots of young people around the world who have created an ‘alliance of movements’.
People are more aware now. It feels like the climate and environment is a hot topic now, thanks to young people pushing.
But at the same time, nothing has been achieved, because global emissions are still going up, Thunberg points out.
So what needs to happen?
We need to start listening to the science, and treat this crisis with the importance it deserve, she insists, adding:
Without treating this as a real crisis we cannot solve it.
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Greta’s panel is the youngest ever convened at the World Economic Forum, if you exclude moderator Edward Felsenthal of Time Magazine (Felsenthal jokes).
WEF’s panel session on creating a sustainable path towards a better world is starting now. The room is packed.
Greta Thunberg is joined by:
- Salvador Gómez-Colón, who raised funds and awareness after Hurricane María devastated his native Puerto Rico in 2017.
- Natasha Mwansa, a campaigner for women’s and girls’ rights from Zambi
- Autumn Peltier, Chief Water Commissioner for the Anishinabek Nation of indigenous people in Canada.
As usual, there’s bumper-to-bumper traffic on the streets of Davos, as the global elite are shuttled around in luxury limos or in ‘green’ shuttle-buses.
There’s also a strong security presence -- I saw about a dozen soldiers, some armed, as I scuttled along the icy pavements to the Congress Centre. There’s the usual high security on the entrances to WEF too (airport-style scanners, no liquids allowed).
Davos’s main street, the Promenade, has been invaded by corporations - they’ve paid massive sums to turn tourist shops or cafes into their base for the week.
Greta is in the building....ready for her first panel session in 15 minutes time or so.
Introduction: Trump vs Thunberg
Good morning from Davos, where the 50th World Economic Forum is getting underway.
Around 3,000 heads of state, business chiefs, academics, activists, celebrities and journalists have descended for their annual splurge of meetings, speeches, parties, top-level discussions and general pontificating.
And today could be dominated by two extremely different individuals, who are both changing the world in their own way.
In one corner, US president Donald Trump. He’ll give the first keynote speech this morning - a chance to tub-thump his America First agenda, trumpet his (limited) trade deal with China, and hail the ongoing US economic expansion.
The Americans are in town in force. Trump has brought a large delegation, including Treasury secretary Stephen Mnuchin and White House advisor Larry Kudlow.
But across the congress centre, climate activist Greta Thunberg will also be in the spotlight. She’s demanding that governments and corporations wake up to the climate emergency, and take decisive action before our futures are ruined.
As Thunberg and allies wrote in the Guardian last week:
We demand that at this year’s forum, participants from all companies, banks, institutions and governments immediately halt all investments in fossil fuel exploration and extraction, immediately end all fossil fuel subsidies and immediately and completely divest from fossil fuels.
We don’t want these things done by 2050, 2030 or even 2021, we want this done now – as in right now.
The climate emergency is a massive issue at Davos this week. WEF’s own Risks Report shows that it’s the biggest long-term risk facing the world economy.
But there’s lots of other issues on the agenda too, including the state of the world economy, the technology arms race, and mental health.
Huawei’s founder, Ren Zhengfei, is in town -- just as the UK weighs up whether to use its 5G technology despite US opposition.
Ren has a lot on his mind. Yesterday, his daughter Meng Wanzhou appeared in a Vancouver court to start her extradition trial over charges of fraud and sanctions violations.
The agenda
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8.30am Davos / 7.30am GMT: Creating a sustainable path towards a common future, including Greta Thunberg,
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9.45am Davos / 8.45am GMT: Huawei’s Founder, Ren Zhengfei, on a panel discussing the tech arms race
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11.30am Davos / 10.30am GMT: Donald Trump’s special address
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1pm Davos: noon GMT: A panel session on the ‘averting the climate apocalypse’, including Greta Thunberg
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2.15pm Davos / 1.15pm GMT: Chinese vice-premier Han Zheng’s special address
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2.30pm Davos/ 1.30pm GMT: US treasury secretary Stephen Mnuchin on a US economy session
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3pm Davos / 2pm GMT: Indian actress Deepika Padukone discusses mental health(3pm GMT)
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4pm Davos / 3pm GMT: Solving the green growth equation, with Bank of England governor Mark Carney, economist Mariana Mazzucato, and Greenpeace’s Jennifer Morgan
- 5.15pm Davos / 4.15pm GMT: A session on ‘escaping the liquidity trap’ with White House economic advisor Larry Kudlow and IMF chief economist Gita Gopinath
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