Donald Trump will lead the largest US delegation ever at the World Economic Forum, as others plan a fightback against his policies
“ASpirit of Dialogue”: the theme for this year’s World Economic Forum, the gathering of the global elite in the sparkling Alpine air of Davos, seems a heroic stretch, when star guest Donald Trump has spent the past year smashing up the world order.
The president will touch down alongside the snowcapped Swiss mountains with the largest US delegation ever seen at the WEF, including the secretary of state, Marco Rubio, the treasury secretary, Scott Bessent, the commerce secretary, Howard Lutnick, and the special envoy Steve Witkoff.
Last year, just days after his second inauguration, Trump was beamed in to Davos on screen to deliver a punchy speech, in which he threatened across-the-board tariffs, urged Nato countries to raise defence spending, and called on the Federal Reserve to slash interest rates “immediately” – setting the tone, as it turned out, for a chaotic 12 months.
A year on, what was left of the fraying rules-based global order, already jeopardised by Russia’s invasion of Ukraine and the rising power of the autocratic regime in Beijing, is rapidly unravelling, and the “spirit of dialogue” has been distinctly hard to find.
