Davos 2025: Trump leaves an impression with his video address to the World Economic Forum

DAVOS, Switzerland — U.S. President Donald Trump drew pockets of laughter and a few moans with his blunt comments to an international audience while appearing by video link Thursday at the World Economic Forum meeting in Davos, Switzerland.

Trump's address and answers to a handful of questions were the highlight of the fourth day of the annual gathering of political and business leaders. His return to the White House this week also shaped other sessions, from a panel on tariffs to a fiery speech by Javier Milei, the brash president of Argentina.

Here's a look at some of the main events Thursday in Davos:

Trump makes a big impression on screen

Trump is no stranger to the Davos meeting, where CEOs, startup visionaries, government leaders, world-class academics and other elites gather in the snowy Swiss town of Davos each January. He came twice during his first term.

The executive orders Trump signed upon starting second term on Monday fed the chatter in the Davos Congress Center corridors all week. They included withdrawing the U.S. from the Paris climate accords, ordering the Gulf of Mexico to be renamed the Gulf of America, and suspending the admission of refugees to the U.S.

Addressing the Davos audience on Thursday, Trump stressed that his administration favored more U.S. drilling for oil and the use of what he called ''good clean coal'' than former President Joe Biden.

The president's statements about coal reverberated with Arunabha Ghosh, CEO of the Council on Energy, Environment and Water (CEEW), a policy research institution in India.

''I think we have to focus on energy security. And energy security has to be about the fuels of the future,'' Ghosh said after leaving the hall where Trump was beamed in. ''Renewables, including with storage, with grid stability, (are) cheaper than coal in many parts of the world.''

Trump also warned the European leaders and executives in attendance that NATO allies should not expect to be immune from U.S. tariffs.

''I'm trying to be constructive because I love Europe. I love the countries of Europe," he said. "But the processes are very cumbersome. One. And they do treat the United States of America very, very unfairly with the bad taxes and all of the other taxes they impose.''

Talking tariffs ... and warning of the risks

''We have seen this movie before, in the 1930s,'' World Trade Organization Director-General Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala said. She noted that countries backed off from using import taxes to manage trade after the experience of the Great Depression, when tariffs deepened the global downturn.

If the U.S. leader's talk of tariffs "is a negotiating tool, let's take a deep breath and wait until that happens,'' Okonjo-Iweala said.

European Union Trade Commissioner Valdis Dombrovskis said the 27-nation EU would approach the Trump administration with ''a spirit of cooperation'' given that the bloc and the United States are strategic allies that together amount to 42% of the world economy.

''We will be seeking engagement and dialogue with the Trump administration and find a constructive way forward,'' Dombrovskis said.

Argentina's Milei rails against ‘wokeism'

''I have come here to tell you that while our battle is not won, there is now hope that our moral duty has been reborn as well as our historic responsibility to dismantle the ideological structure of this sick wokeism,'' Milei said.

Trump and Musk are among leaders forming an alliance ''of all the nations that want to be free,'' he said.

''The common denominator for the countries that are failing is the mental virus of woke ideology,'' he said. ''It is the great pandemic of our time that needs to be cured. It is the cancer that must be cut out.''

Pope Francis envoy evokes ‘fraternity'

In a message read by his envoy to Davos, Pope Francis praised technological advancements but warned about the dangers AI could pose to ''human dignity and fraternity.''

"AI must be ordered to the human person and become part of efforts to achieve greater justice, more extensive fraternity, and a more humane order of social relations, which are more valuable than advances in the technical field,'' he added.

The pontiff also expressed concerns about AI's effect "on the growing crisis of truth in the public forum,'' Turkson said.

NATO's Rutte urges more support for Ukraine

Anxiety in Europe has grown that Trump might seek to quickly end Russia's war in Ukraine through talks with Russian President Vladimir Putin — on terms that might be unfavorable to Kyiv.

NATO Secretary-General Mark Rutte, speaking at a breakfast on the sidelines of the forum hosted by Ukrainian tycoon Victor Pinchuk, urged Ukraine's Western backers to keep up their support nearly three years into the war.

Richard Grenell, Trump's nominee as envoy for special missions, said by video from Los Angeles that Trump faced ''a terrible mess'' and ''not a lot of great choices'' in efforts to end the Russia-Ukraine war.

''President Trump is somebody who has a credible threat and has already made clear that he's going to pressure both sides to end this. He's focused on trying to stop the killing," the envoy-designate said.

Putting more pressure on Putin — economic or military — remained a ''legitimate option'' for Trump, Grenell said.

"I would say just give President Trump a little time,'' he said.

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