Strength, force, power. You’d be hard pushed to find three words that are more at odds with the philosophy of World Economic Forum.
“We live in a world in which you can talk about international niceties and everything else,” Donald Trump’s deputy chief of staff, Stephen Miller, told my colleague Jake Tapper recently. “But we live in a world, the real world … that is governed by strength, that is governed by force, that is governed by power,” he continued. “These are the iron laws of the world.”
From Caracas, Copenhagen and Kyiv, to Brussels, Bogotá, Jerusalem and Johannesburg, via Tehran, Ottawa, Mexico City and beyond, this second “America First” term is redefining the boundaries of American power and how it might be exercised.
“There is one thing: my own morality, my own mind. It’s the only thing that can stop me,” Trump told The New York Times last week. “I don’t need international law.”
Based on his administration’s recent actions, from the audacious capture of Nicolás Maduro to renewed threats to take Greenland by whatever means necessary, few believe he is not serious.
Eight years ago, Trump strode into the Congress Hall at Davos to unbecoming gushes and gawps from delegates overcome by his celebrity, craning their necks for a glimpse of him. This was an exclusive club of which he was never part, and one which would never previously have dreamed of welcoming him in such a way.
Now he was the centre of attention, and he clearly revelled in it. Back then, the WEF rolled out the red carpet more in hope than expectation, and Trump just about concealed his disdain for its elitist, intellectual trappings. America was “open for business”, he told them. Yes, it would still be America First, but “not America alone”. On the surface it was a surprisingly inclusive message. Oh, how things have changed.
Exactly how to welcome this most unpredictable of house guests into the halls of the WEF’s globalist cathedral now is anyone’s guess. Davos is the very embodiment of “international niceties”. The foundations upon which it is built – a vision of dialogue and stakeholder capitalism and a “commitment to improving the state of the world” – are shaking like never before.
As if that wasn’t enough, the WEF itself is already creaking under pressure of its own making. Klaus Schwab, its founder and executive chairman, departed last year amid allegations of misconduct raised by anonymous whistle-blowers. An internal investigation found no evidence of material wrongdoing, but the episode was an embarrassing one for an organisation facing persistent questions over its relevance.
The WEF maintains that Davos offers a unique opportunity for decision-makers from multiple perspectives to collaborate, and to some extent that is true. But in the current climate the idea that it can also effect change seems absurdly unrealistic, especially when faced with a guest of honour who could easily come to dinner to unapologetically smash the crockery and pocket the silverware on his way out.
All of this begs an obvious question: if Davos is truly irrelevant, then why is Trump bothering to head up into the Swiss Alps at all? Based on his last visit, there is no doubt that he will get attention, and any long-time observer will tell you that alone can be incentive enough for Mr Trump. He could simply take the opportunity to rub delegates noses in their impotence, expand the “Donroe doctrine“, and remind everyone that if they want a deal, they must get it on his terms – or else.
But there is also some evidence to suggest that America should be courting some of the still-influential power-brokers padding around the deep pile carpets of the Davos Congress Centre. Ken Fisher, founder and executive chair of Fisher Investments, reminded me last week that 2025 was a better year for business outside of America than in it, while the three years prior were better for those in the United States.
“This is a world where the world’s doing business around America, and sometimes in America,” he told me. “But the rest of the world is what’s leading the capital markets, not the United States.” Trump is also facing hardening political realities at home. Every US president looks to the mid-terms with a sense of dread, and Trump’s approval ratings are languishing behind his bluster.
Cracks are also beginning to appear in his once rock-solid Maga Republican coalition, partly over issues such as the administration’s handling of the Epstein files, but also because of a stubborn affordability crisis and bewilderment in some quarters over recent foreign policy adventures.
He is also now in open warfare with a Fed that suddenly appears happy to fight him head-on. Whisper it, but Trump may need friends in the international community more than he’d care to admit. If the President is not to discover far more straightforward limits to his power than his own mind come November’s elections, he will need some economic wins that tariffs and sabre-rattling are unlikely to deliver.
Of course, he is not above coercion to get a deal done, and as we have seen this month, he is willing to back those words – at least on occasion – with decisive and controversial action.
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Whatever happens, Trump’s approach to Davos next week will be fascinating to observe. Most significantly, it could provide a clear vision of a new kind of Trumpian Pax Americana, at least until that changes again.
It would also be deeply ironic if this most anti-globalist president provides a shot in the arm for one of globalism’s most famous – and infamous – institutions. This oddest of couples might actually be made for one another.
Follow Richard Quest and CNN’s coverage of Davos on CNN International and CNN.com
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