We didn’t have to wait long for a first swipe at Europe.
Trump says he wants to share his recipe for the US success for others to follow, as he says “certain places in Europe are not even recognisable.”
“We can argue about it, but there’s no argument. Friends come back from different places – I don’t want to insult anybody – and say, I don’t recognise it. And that’s not in a positive way, that’s in a very negative way.
And I love Europe and I want to see Europe go good, but it’s not heading in the right direction.”
Onto Venezuela, and Trump mentions glibly that the US just picked up 50m barrels of Venezuelan oil (following the capture of its leader Nicolás Maduro).
[This is a controversial issue, though, as the oil was sold to a company whose senior oil trader donated to Donald Trump’s re-election campaign.]
“Venezuela is going to do fantastically well,” Trump promises, saying it will quickly make more money than in the last 20 years.
We didn’t have to wait long for a first swipe at Europe.
Trump says he wants to share his recipe for the US success for others to follow, as he says “certain places in Europe are not even recognisable.”
“We can argue about it, but there’s no argument. Friends come back from different places – I don’t want to insult anybody – and say, I don’t recognise it. And that’s not in a positive way, that’s in a very negative way.
And I love Europe and I want to see Europe go good, but it’s not heading in the right direction.”
On trade, Trump suggests that nearly every country who’ve signed a trade deal with US have seen their stock markets boom.
He reminds WEF:
When the United States goes up, you follow.
Modesty is not high on the agenda for this speech.
Citing the new “100% expensing” rules brought in to support company investment, Trump declares “a miracle is taking place” in the US economy, which “no-one thought it would ever be done by any country”.
He adde that his first term as president was the “most successful term ever” from a financial perspective.
Trump then declares that he is lowering taxes, and raising tariffs on foreign nations – to pay for the damage he says they have caused.
[However, tariffs are paid by importers, ie US companies and consumers].
Trump then attacks ‘unchecked, mass migration’, and Europe’s green energy focus.
He claims that certain places in Europe are “not recognisable, frankly”.
He says friends come back from different places, and say ‘I don’t recognise’ it, in a negative way.
Trump insists he wants Europe to go well, but claims Europe is not moving in the right direction.
What should we be watching out for? Who knows what to expect.
But you can imagine Trump will want to make his views on Greenland clear, including any potential impact on Nato as a knock-on effect, and he can also be expected to touch upon the related issues, such as the US trade and wider relationship with Europe.
Be in no doubt about the seriousness of this moment: most political Europe will be on very high alert for his every word on these issues.
For Europe specific reaction to Trump’s speech, I’ll also be posting in the Europe live blog here.
Donald Trump starts his speech by saying it’s a pleasure to be back in Davos (he was last here in 2020).
He jokes that it’s nice to be back with “So many friends, a few enemies,” winning a laugh from his audience.
Trump declares that “inflation has been defeated” and America’s previous “open and dangerous border” has been closed.
[inflation was last clocked at 2.7% per year, over the Federal Reserve’s 2% target].
He brags that he’s delivering the most remarkable transformation in US history, and promises growth that no country has seen before.
Core inflation is just 1.6%, he adds, while Q4 2025 growth is predicted 5.4% – far higher than anyone apart from Trump himself predicted.
Trump kicks off his speech, and quickly promises US “growth like no country has ever seen before”.
“People are doing very well, they’re very happy with me,” he tells the audience.
Donald Trump’s speech is definitely running late, as he doesn’t seem to have arrived yet.
My colleague and the Guardian’s economics editor, Heather Stewart, has sent us this video of the queue to enter the hall:
The Guardian
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