President Donald Trump brought his message to the world stage on Thursday, Jan. 23, giving a special address to the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland. At the event featuring leaders in global government and business, the president touted his priorities, including investment in America, easing the regulatory environment and tariffs.

During the president’s opening remarks, he trumpeted investments he has secured for the U.S. since winning the election.

On U.S. investment

“SoftBank has announced between a $100 and $200 billion investment in the U.S. economy because of the election result,” he said. “And just two days ago, Oracle and OpenAI announced a $500 billion investment in AI infrastructure. Other companies, likewise, have announced billions and billions and billions, adding up to trillions of investment in America.”

But it’s not just the private sector getting ready to write checks.

“Saudi Arabia will be investing at least $600 billion in America, but I’ll be asking the crown prince, who’s a fantastic guy, to round it out to around $1 trillion,” Trump said.

Download the SAN app today to stay up-to-date with Unbiased. Straight Facts™.

Point phone camera here

On inflation

The president talked about taking action to reduce the burden of high prices on Americans. 

“On day one, I signed an executive order directing every member of my cabinet to marshal all powers at their disposal to defeat inflation and reduce the cost of daily life,” he said. “And I’m also going to ask Saudi Arabia and OPEC to bring down the cost of oil. You got to bring it down … If the price came down, the Russia-Ukraine war would end immediately.”

A barrel of Brent crude oil traded around $76 on Thursday. Overall, the consumer price energy index is down 0.5% over the 12 months ending in December. Gasoline prices are down 3.4% on the year. Inflation on all consumer prices tracked by the Bureau of Labor Statistics rose 2.9% for the year ending in December.

On interest rates

“I’ll demand that interest rates drop immediately,” he said, turning his attention to the Federal Reserve. “And likewise, they should be dropping all over the world. Interest rates should follow us.”

Trump pressuring the Federal Reserve to lower interest rates is nothing new. He publicly fought with Fed Chair Jerome Powell about the issue during Trump’s first administration.

After raising the benchmark interest rate to levels not seen in decades to combat inflation, the Fed began cutting rates in September 2024. However, as inflation starts to pick up again, probability markets are betting on just one rate cut in 2025. The Federal Open Market Committee projected two cuts for the year during its December meeting.

On regulation

Trump said his administration has begun “the largest deregulation campaign in history, far exceeding even the record-setting efforts of my last term.”

“I have promised to eliminate 10 old regulations for every new regulation, which will soon put many thousands of dollars back in the pockets of American families to further unleash our economy,” he added.

On American manufacturing

Trump continued to promote making products in the U.S., doubling down on tariffs for companies making products outside of the country. 

“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,” Trump said. “Under the Trump administration, there will be no better place on Earth to create jobs, build factories or grow a company than right here in the good ‘ole USA.”

Global reactions to Trump’s trade policies

Attendees of the global forum talked heavily about Trump’s trade policies well before he addressed the event remotely.

“If we have tit-for-tat retaliation, whether it’s 25% tariff (or) 60%, and we go to where we were in the 1930s, we’re going to see double-digit global GDP losses,” WTO Director-General Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala said at an event in Davos on Thursday. “That’s catastrophic. Everyone will pay, everyone. And the poor countries will pay even more.”

“Second, if we just do, not quite tit-for-tat, but even a version of that, let’s say we break into two trading blocs and we’re not trading across the world, and we layer in trade policy uncertainty,” Okonjo-Iweala added. “We’ve done that work, too. We are going to lose 6.4% of real global GDP in the longer term. That’s like losing the economy of Japan and Korea combined.”

Despite that warning, Okonjo-Iweala said she was approaching things with “cautious optimism.”

“Everybody thought that by today or tomorrow we would get an executive order with 60% tariffs or 30% and so on,” she said during a separate panel Wednesday, Jan. 22. “So far, we’ve seen the request for a slew of studies and investigations of the various trading partners and various types of trade agreements to see the impact on the United States. That’s a bit encouraging.”

European reaction to trade relationships

Earlier in the week, European Union President Ursula von der Leyen addressed trade cooperation with partners like China.

“It is time to pursue a more balanced relationship with China in a spirit of fairness and reciprocity,” von der Leyen said Tuesday, Jan. 21. “This new engagement with countries across the world is not only an economic necessity, but it’s a message to the world. It is Europe’s response to rising global competition. We want more cooperation with all who are open for it.”

Meanwhile, the bloc faces a tariff threat from Trump.

“From the standpoint of America, the EU treats us very, very unfairly, very badly,” he said Thursday. “They have a large tax that we know about, and a VAT tax, and it’s a very substantial one. They don’t take our farm products, and they don’t take our cars. Yet they send cars to us by the millions.”

“So we have hundreds of billions of dollars of deficits with the EU, and nobody’s happy with it,” he added. “And we’re going to do something about it, but nobody’s happy with it.”

“Our first priority will be to engage early [with the U.S.], discuss common interests, and be ready to negotiate,” von der Leyen said in Davos. “We will be pragmatic, but we will always stand by our principles.”

Get up to speed on the stories leading the day every weekday morning. Sign up for the newsletter today!

Learn more about our emails. Unsubscribe anytime.

Enter your email for newsletter updates Subscribe

By entering your email, you agree to the Terms & Conditions and acknowledge the Privacy Policy.

Not mentioned by Trump: the Panama Canal

While Trump did not mention the Panama Canal during his speech, his previous comments are top of mind for some participants at Davos.

“We didn’t give it to China. We gave it to Panama, and we’re taking it back,” Trump said Monday, Jan. 20.

But Panamanian leaders aren’t concerned about Trump’s plans.

“Panama is moving forward. Panama is not distracted by this type of pronouncements,” President Jose Raul Mulino said Wednesday in Davos. “Over time, we have been an ally and friend of the United States, partners to a large extent, [sharing] important benefits, not only through the canal but also a participant, as a main user of the canal, transporting goods from Panama and to the United States.”

“It doesn’t worry me because that in strict law is an impossibility,” he added. “Misinformed, of course, but that also leads us to think that from this, shall we call it, crisis, there must also be opportunities to work on other issues that interest us with the United States.”