High
in the Swiss Alps, President Donald Trump plans to crow this week that
his protectionist policies have helped drive a resurgent American
economy. His message will resonate far beyond the snow-blanketed valleys
below.
Business and political leaders the world over are
anxiously awaiting what Trump will say to the World Economic Forum in
Davos, the annual gathering of movers and shakers which this year
features the first visit by a US president in almost two decades.
Davos is an unlikely venue for Trump's heralding of an "America
First" agenda. The event has become a byword for the brand of
high-minded globalism that Trump angrily denounced as a candidate and
has found little place in his White House.
In some ways, Trump's
decision to become the first American president to visit Davos since
Bill Clinton did in 2000 was a predictable outcome for a man who, for
decades, has sought acceptance by the rarified world of the ultra-rich.
Now, he arrives at the annual party more powerful than them, eager to
take a victory lap around those who excluded him for years.
Yet
for the third time, it's a foreign trip that begins under the shadow of
developments in the Russia investigation and special counsel Robert
Mueller. Trump left for Saudi Arabia in May just as Mueller was
appointed, departed for Asia in November as the first criminal charges
in the probe were filed, and leaves this week amid new revelations of
interviews with his attorney general and the FBI director he fired.
Brief appearance
Trump
arrives in Switzerland early Thursday and plans to spend only one
night. His brief appearance at the Davos forum has already caused
agitation and eye-rolling among some of the gathering's regular
attendees, who wonder whether he'll lambast or even shame them when he
takes the stage on Friday morning. Trump's advisers say he'll link his
governing agenda to the record markets and low unemployment currently
fueling American growth.
"The President's appearance is there to
sell his accomplishments, to remind the world that we are open for
business, that we're a competitive country, that we have made America
very competitive, and that everyone should understand what he has
accomplished in his first year, and what we're going to continue to
accomplish in the next three remaining years," said Gary Cohn, the
director of the White House's National Economic Council.
Cohn,
along with at least 15 other top-ranking administration officials or
Cabinet secretaries, has traveled to Switzerland with Trump. First lady
Melania Trump was originally scheduled to join her husband, but withdrew
this week citing "scheduling and logistical issues." The announcement
came as the White House battled back accusations that Trump engaged in
extramarital sex with a porn star.
Even without the first lady,
however, it's a high-voltage American presence for the four-day summit
here, one that officials say is meant to solicit investment in the
United States.
The American contingent has already prompted some
waves of consternation. The leader of the delegation, Treasury Secretary
Steve Mnuchin, caused a stir on Wednesday when he declared a weaker US
dollar would be good for the country, breaking with a long tradition of
government officials endorsing a stronger dollar. The value of the
currency promptly fell to a three-year low.
The US officials join a
crowd that includes Microsoft founder Bill Gates, actress Cate
Blanchett and Chinese business magnate Jack Ma, among the
highest-profile participants of this year's meetings, along with a
roster of heads of state and high-ranking government officials.
That
includes UK Prime Minister Theresa May, with whom Trump will meet on
Thursday after engaging in a public spat over anti-Muslim videos created
by a far-right British group. He'll also sit for talks with Israeli
Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and President Paul Kagame of Rwanda,
the current chairman of the African Union. Several African nations took
formal steps to register their fury after Trump used vulgar language to
describe their countries during a meeting about immigration earlier this
month.
Contradiction
But his appearance
here also underscores a contradiction: some of his biggest
accomplishments from his first year in office -- tax cuts for
corporations and a roaring stock market -- are a far cry from the
populist pledges he delivered from the campaign trail. While now exiled
from Trump's orbit, his former chief strategist, Steve Bannon, bemoaned
Davos and all it stood for.
"The working men and women in the
world ... are just tired of being dictated to by what we call the 'party
of Davos,' " Bannon said in 2014.
Participants at Davos have
historically espoused the benefits of free trade and global engagement.
At the same time, they've taken pains -- however clumsy -- to
acknowledge that which requires the assistance of the international
community, like refugees and the environment. The theme for the summit
this year: "Creating a shared future in a fractured world."
Trump,
meanwhile, has largely rejected both an internationalist approach and a
benevolent view of American power, leading to a heightened sense of
anticipation for his address Friday.
"I think Davos has always
grappled with the animal spirit of business and the idea of trying to
build a shared future," Robin Niblett, the director of London-based
Chatham House, told CNN on Wednesday. "Business is driven by some of the
animal instincts that Trump represents, but he's not a believer in the
multilateralism that's meant to be packaged around it."
Never
invited here during his tenure as New York's most famous real estate
developer, Trump will engage in a "vindication tour," one person
familiar with his plans said. Among a crowd who welcomed the tax cuts he
signed for corporations and wealthy individuals -- if almost nothing
else of his agenda -- he'll insist that the American economy has never
seemed stronger, even as America's global standing has come into
question.
"He's a businessman but he's not your normal type of
American businessman," Niblett said. "Most of the leaders here are from
multinational companies that understand the need to be diplomatic to
work in multiple different diverse constituencies. He's not somebody
who's gone through that experience."
When Trump's advisers were
pitching a visit to Davos as a way to trumpet the US economy, some
maintained that he'd have an uncrowded stage to make his pronouncements,
unlike other global summits like the G7 or G20 meetings. But after
Trump announced his attendance, a flurry of other leaders submitted
their RSVPs, including German Chancellor Angela Merkel, who has at last
formed a governing coalition after months of uncertainty.
Along
with French President Emmanuel Macron, Merkel will provide a
counterpoint to Trump's protectionist ideas. Both will serve as
reminders that however disruptive Trump's election appeared, the
nationalist wave it appeared to portend did not fully materialize. After
all, Macron and Merkel beat back right-wing candidates to secure
election last year.
Along with leaders like Canadian Prime
Minister Justin Trudeau, Merkel and Macron have sought to rally fellow
world leaders behind a collective approach to solving global quandaries,
even as Trump has withdrawn, or threatened to withdraw, the US from a
series of trade agreements and diplomatic accords.
In addresses
here this week, all three warned against an inward turn. Trudeau
announced the finalization of a US-free Trans-Pacific Partnership,
nearly a year after Trump withdrew from the trade pact. Merkel cautioned
against a rise in "national egoism" and warned against forgetting
lessons learned during World War II. And Macron called for a new 10-year
global framework based on cooperation and warned against a "race to
bottom" in lowering taxes.
Bears burned in California wildfires go holistic for pain
Advertisement
No comments:
Post a Comment