President Donald Trump arrived at the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland, on Wednesday after a minor electrical problem aboard Air Force One forced a return to Washington to switch planes.
Shortly after landing in Zurich, his Marine One helicopter took him to the site of the international meeting. The White House said being late would not delay his planned speech at the forum in the Swiss Alps – where his ambitions to wrest control of Greenland from NATO ally Denmark could sever ties with European allies and overshadow his original plan to use his appearance at the meeting of global elites to tackle affordability problems at home.
Trump’s speech will focus mainly on domestic policy. But it could affect both Greenland and the US military operation that led to the recent ouster of Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro.
On Thursday, Trump plans to push harder on foreign policy, including discussing Washington’s hemispheric domination and the “Council of Peace” he is creating to oversee the US-brokered ceasefire in Israel’s war with Hamas.
That’s according to a White House official who spoke to reporters aboard Air Force One on the condition of anonymity to discuss plans that have not been made public. Trump will also have about five bilateral meetings with foreign leaders, although further details were not provided.
The tariff threat is high
Trump comes to the international forum in Davos after threatening high US tariffs on Denmark and seven other allies unless they negotiate a transfer of the semi-autonomous territory – a concession European leaders have signaled they are unwilling to make.
Trump said rates would start at 10% next month and rise to 25% in June, rates that would be high enough to raise costs and slow growth, potentially hurting Trump’s efforts to reduce the high cost of living.
In a text message circulated among European officials this week, the president also linked his aggressive stance toward Greenland to last year’s decision not to award him the Nobel Peace Prize. In the message, he told Norwegian Prime Minister Jonas Gahr Støre that he no longer felt “an obligation to think purely about peace.”
Amid an unusual stretch testing the United States’ relations with longtime allies, it seems uncertain what could happen during Trump’s two days in Switzerland.
On Tuesday, U.S. Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick told a panel in Davos that he and Trump, a Republican, planned to deliver a grim message: “Globalization has failed the West and the United States of America. It is a failed policy,” he said.
“This is going to be an interesting journey,” Trump told reporters Tuesday evening as he left the White House for his flight to Davos. “I have no idea what will happen, but you are well represented.”
In fact, his journey to Davos got off to a rocky start. There was a minor electrical problem with Air Force One, which forced the crew to turn the plane around out of an abundance of caution about 30 minutes into the flight. This caused the president’s arrival in Switzerland to be delayed by several hours.
Wall Street swayed Tuesday as investors weighed Trump’s new tariff threats and escalating tensions with European allies. The S&P 500 fell 2.1%, the biggest drop since October. The Dow Jones Industrial Average fell 1.8%. The Nasdaq index fell 2.4%.
“It is clear that we are reaching a time of instability and imbalances, both from a security and defense point of view and from an economic point of view,” French President Emmanuel Macron said in his address to the forum. Macron made no direct mention of Trump, but urged his fellow leaders to reject the acceptance of “the law of the strongest.”
Meanwhile, European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen warned that if Trump were to move forward on tariffs, the bloc’s response would be “unwavering, united and proportionate.” She pointedly suggested that Trump’s new tariff threat could also undermine a US-EU trade framework reached this summer that the Trump administration has worked hard to seal.
“The European Union and the United States reached a trade agreement last July,” Von der Leyen said in Davos. “And in politics as in business, a deal is a deal. And when friends shake hands, it has to mean something.”
Trump will talk about housing
Trump said ahead of the speech that he planned to use his Davos appearance to talk about making housing more attainable and other affordability issues that are top priorities for Americans.
But Trump’s Greenland tariff threat could disrupt the U.S. economy if the trade truce reached last year between the U.S. and the EU is blown, said Scott Lincicome, a tariff critic and vice president for economic issues at the Cato Institute, a libertarian think tank.
“Significantly undermining investor confidence in the US economy over the longer term would likely increase interest rates and thus make housing less affordable,” Lincicome said.
Trump also warned Europe on Tuesday of retaliation for the coming new tariffs.
“Whatever they do to us, I’m going to meet it,” Trump said on NewsNation’s “Katie Pavlich Tonight.” “All I have to do is meet it, and it will bounce back.”
Davos – a forum known for its appeal to the global elite – is an odd backdrop for a speech on affordability. But White House officials have promoted it as a moment for Trump to try to revive populist support in the US, where many voters who backed him in 2024 see affordability as a major problem. About six in 10 American adults now say Trump has hurt the cost of living, according to the latest survey from The Associated Press-NORC Center for Public Affairs Research.
U.S. home sales are at a 30-year low, while rising prices and high mortgage rates are keeping many potential buyers out of the market. So far, Trump has announced plans to buy $200 billion in mortgage bonds to help lower home loan rates and has called for a ban on big financial companies from buying homes.
Promoting the ‘Council of Peace’
More than sixty other heads of state are present at the forum. On Thursday, Trump plans to host an event to discuss the Council of Peace, intended to oversee the end of the war between Israel and Hamas in Gaza, and possibly take on a broader mandate that could conflict with the United Nations.
The White House official said about 30 people are expected to join the board after invitations were sent to about 50 countries late last week.
So far, fewer than 10 leaders have accepted invitations to join the group, including a handful of leaders seen as anti-democratic authoritarians. Several of America’s key European partners have declined or been noncommittal, including Britain, France and Germany.
Trump told reporters on Tuesday that his peace council “may” eventually make the UN redundant, but emphasized that he wants the international body to survive.
“I believe you should let the UN continue because the potential is so great,” Trump said.
Michelle L. Price contributed from Washington.
—Josh Boak, Will Weissert and Aamer Madhani, Associated Press
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