By Janet H. Cho
President Trump is slated to participate virtually in the World Economic Forum's annual meeting on Thursday morning at Davos-Klosters, Switzerland, and will deliver remarks via live video links, according to the current schedule of events.
He is scheduled to join a dialogue with WEF founder and board Chairman Klaus Schwab; WEF President and CEO Børge Brende; Blackstone Group chairman, CEO, and co-founder Stephen Schwarzman; Bank of America chair and CEO Brian Moynihan; Banco Santander executive chair Ana Botín; and TotalEnergies chairman of the board and CEO Patrick Pouyanné at 11 a.m. Eastern.
The schedule didn't provide details on the topic of conversation.
Even though Trump won't be at the event in person, WEF attendees have already discussed the impact of his return to the White House on global affairs.
In response to Trump's remarks during his inaugural address that the U.S. is "taking back" the Panamal Canal, Panama's president José Raúl Mulino said Wednesday that the waterway "belongs to Panama and will continue to belong to Panama." He said Panama wouldn't be distracted by such pronouncements, calling them "misinformed" and a legal impossibility.
Trump's appearance follows several policy moves that have drawn attention around the world. After his Monday swearing-in, Trump signed executive orders withdrawing the U.S. for the second time from the Paris Climate Agreement. This week, he also revoked several of former President Joe Biden's executive orders to fight climate change, declared a national energy emergency, and canceled Biden's "unfair" incentives to promote electric-vehicle purchases. The U.S. is one of the world's largest producers of greenhouse gas emissions, second only to China, according to the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency.
Attendees at Thursday's event may be looking to hear more about Trump's choice this week to pull the U.S. out of the World Health Organization, the United Nations agency that supports the global health system. In an executive order, Trump accused the WHO of "mishandling" the Covid-19 pandemic. The withdrawal has alarmed public-health officials, who are monitoring the H5N1 bird flu outbreak in the U.S. as a potential future pandemic.
The day after those withdrawals, China expressed its support for both initiatives. "Protectionism leads nowhere. Trade war has no winners," Chinese Vice Premier Ding Xuexiang said Tuesday at the World Economic Forum, The Wall Street Journal reported. "We should not only make the pie of economic globalization bigger, but also distribute it better."
Trump is among more than 50 heads of state and governmental leaders who are expected to attend the weeklong event, including President of the European Commission Ursula von der Leyen, German Chancellor Olaf Scholz, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky, Prime Minister of Vietnam Pham Minh Chinh, and U.S. Secretary-General António Guterres.
Event organizers are expecting nearly 3,000 attendees from more than 130 countries throughout the course of the WEF meeting, which runs through Friday.
Write to Janet H. Cho at janet.cho@dowjones.com
This content was created by Barron's, which is operated by Dow Jones & Co. Barron's is published independently from Dow Jones Newswires and The Wall Street Journal.
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January 23, 2025 10:04 ET (15:04 GMT)
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