Donald Trump arrives in Davos
Donald Trump has now landed at Davos, having been whisked up to the alpine ski resort in his helicopter, Marine One.
He’s now being rushed to the World Economic Forum’s congress centre, right in the centre of Davos, in the Beast (his highly secure car).
Key events
It’s a very organised queue to see the US president, at least:
World Economic Forum delegates are swarming around the main hall at the congress centre today, desperate to get a good seat for Donald Trump’s speech.
It’s still scheduled to start in 45 minutes.
Tensions are certainly high at Davos this year.
Bloomberg are reporting that ECB president Christine Lagarde left a VIP dinner here last night, after US Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick started laying into Europe, according to people familiar with the matter.
Dimon: I’d be more polite about Europe criticism
Jamie Dimon then tells WEF that the world needs “a stronger Nato”.
The head of JP Morgan tells WEF that Europe should also strengthen its economy, by implementing the recommendations of the recent Draghi report into competitiveness.
That would be good for Europe and very good for America, Dimon suggests.
Asked whether Donald Trump is making the world safer, or not, Dimon suggests that “it’s not a binary thing”.
He argues that it’s OK to point out Europe’s weaknesses, but concedes that he’d be more polite about it.
Dimon: We’re not going to kill our employees tomorrow with AI
On artificial intelligence, Jamie Dimon says take-up will be “parabolic”, saving AI is a ‘massive’ technology.
And he warns that this change may come too fast for society.
If that happens, Dimon suggests, business, society and government need to step in.
Q: what should goverments do?
Dimon suggests that government, at a local level, should step in and stop a company laying off huge numbers of staff to replace them with AI (such as a trucking firm, for example), by providing incentives to retrain staff.
He insists:
“We’re not going to kill all our employees tomorrow with AI”
Jamie Dimon, chairman and CEO of JPMorgan Chase, is holding a ‘conversation’ at WEF now.
Asked for the secret of his success, Dimon modestly demures that he’s made a lot of mistakes in his career.
But he then cites “relentless grit”, along with attention to detail, fixing problem quickly, reversing course when you’re wrong, and hiring great people.
[modestly put, Jamie!]
Q: What do you wish you’d done differently?
Dimon says he tends to regret situations where he waited too long before making a decision or put up too much bureaucracy.
Also “people mistakes” – which take a long time to fix.
However, he doesn’t worry too much about situations where the bank lost money.
You can watch Jamie Dimon here:
Trump / Merz talks at Davos cancelled due to delayed US flight
Trump’s late arrival has had a knock-on impact on the president’s plans for meetings here in Davos.
A planned bilateral meeting today between the US president and German chancellor Friedrich Merz at the World Economic Forum Wednesday has been cancelled due to the US delegation’s late arrival, a German source told Reuters.
Trump lands in Zurich
Donald Trump has landed in Switzerland, finally, after his journey was disrupted by technical problems on Air Force One
A aeroplane with “United States of America” plastered down the fuselage has touched down at Zurich airport in the last few minutes.
Associated Press report that Trump landed nearly two hours after he was originally scheduled to arrive.
Lutnick ‘heckled’ at WEF dinner
US commerce secretary Howard Lutnick was reportedly heckled at a World Economic Forum dinner in Davos hosted by BlackRock’s Larry Fink.
The Financial Times have the details, saying:
The gathering on Tuesday night descended into uproar after combative remarks from Lutnick, the people said, with widespread jeering, some guests walking out and appeals for calm from Fink, head of the world’s largest asset manager and interim co-chair of WEF.
Reeves: No reason why UK-US trade deal can’t continue to stand
Heather Stewart
Speaking to reporters in Davos, UK chancellor Rachel Reeves said the existing US trade deal stands, and she had been in regular touch on WhatsApp with US Treasury secretary Scott Bessent, who this morning suggested there were “glitches” in the trade deal.
“There is no reason why the trade deal that was done last year can’t continue to stand,” she said. Reeves said both she and business secretary Peter Kyle had met the US Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick in Davos.
Asked how she would advise exporters wondering what tariffs they may face next month, she said:
“British businesses know that the UK Government has their back. Last year, we secured the first and the best trade deal with the US. But the US is not our only trading partner, and because of our work last year, we secured with India the best trade deal with any country in the world. We also did a trade deal with the Republic of Korea, and we are improving trade relations with Canada, and crucially, with our nearest neighbors and trading partners in the EU so we’re providing new opportunities for British businesses?”
On domestic matters, Reeves appeared to suggest that a support package for pubs to help them cope with the business rates rises announced at the budget would not cover the wider hospitality sector.
“I do recognise the particular challenge that pubs face at the moment, and so have been working with the sector over the last few weeks to make sure that the right support is in place. And we’ll be announcing something in the next few days: we’ve just been using this time to get the package right. Challenged on whether that meant other businesses would not be included, she added, “I think the situation the pub face is different from other parts of the hospitality sector.”
Reeves also had a dig at Nigel Farage, who is out here in Davos courting attention. “What is his economic plan?” she asked.
“He said that Liz Truss’s budget was the best budget he’d ever seen, and we saw the damage that that did.”
She added:
“It’s very easy to put out a tweet, put something out on Tiktok. It is harder to actually get concrete results to British businesses and British workers”.
Gavin Newsom: I’m in Bessent’s head
I just caught up with California governor Gavin Newsom here in Davos, and asked him about Scott Bessent’s claim this morning that Newson was smug, self-absorbed and economically illiterate.
Newsom replies:
I’m in his head.
Newsom also predicted that the most interesting elements of Donald Trump’s speech will be the parts which aren’t on the teleprompter – they will be shaped by what he sees on Fox News on the flight over, he predicts.
Newsom suggests that the only force that could change Trump’s approach is the markets.
And he denies that he’s come to the World Economic Forum to play the role of “resistance leader”, insisting:
No, I’m here to express a different point of view.
He also describes Trump as a “historically unpopular president”, with policies are undeniable unpopular with many Americans.
And Newsom – a plausible candidate to be the Democratic candidate in 2028 – singles out Mark Carney, Ursula von der Leyen and Emmanuel Macron for praise, telling reporters:
I was very pleased to hear prime minister Carney’s remarks yesterday, the EU president’s remarks were powerful, and Macron’s.
John Collingridge
Finnish president Alexander Stubb says Russia’s economy is in trouble after four years of war, with high inflation and heavy casualties.
“I’m more worried about Russia’s unwillingness to end this war because they cannot afford to do so than about Russia’s capability to end this war because they are moving ahead.
“This war has been an utter strategic failure of President Putin. He increased the size of Nato, he made Ukraine European, he increased the defence budgets of European states.
Here we are asking ourselves, shaking, ‘Are we able to defend ourselves?’ My answer: yes we are.”
Update: Nvidia present and CEO Jensen Huang’s WEF discussion has now ended, you can watch his session back here:
Rutte: Ukraine must be number one priority
John Collingridge
European leaders are in danger of losing focus on the war in Ukraine as Donald Trump’s demand to annex Greenland distracts them, the secretary general of Nato warns.
Mark Rutte says the “main issue is not Greenland – the main issue is Ukraine”.
“I’m a little bit worried that we might drop the ball focusing on these other issues,” he tells a panel at the World Economic Forum discussing on European defence.
“This focus on Ukraine should be our number one priority. It should be Ukraine first because it is crucial for our European and US security.”
Rutte also says he has no doubt that the US would come to Europe’s protection if needed. We need each other for our mutual protection, he adds.
Rutte also credits Trump with pushing European NATO members to increase their military spending, saying it wouldn’t have happened otherwise.
Rutte says:
“If we Europeans here in Nato are thinking that because of the €90bn [loan] the commission has been able to bring together or because the peace process is moving in the right direction, we can forget about the defence of Ukraine, don’t.
“They need our support now, tomorrow and the day after.
“I need European allies to keep focused on this issue. “
Gretchen Whitmer, governor of Michigan, has told Davos she will continue to push Donald Trump to drop his tariffs.
Speaking at a panel here, Whitmer describes herself as a “GSD – get shit done – democrat”, who’s prepared to lobby Trump to get results for Michigan.
Whitmer describes her relationship with Trump as “complicated”, as she disagrees with the US president on about 95% of issues.
When I disagree about tariffs, he hears it.
It hasn’t changed his mind yet, but I’m going to keep trying.
