Trump 2.0 “increases interest in Davos”, according to WEF boss

Even if he will not set foot in Davos this year, Donald Trump’s return to the White House is reviving interest in the annual meeting of the rich and powerful in the Swiss Alps resort, assures its chief organizer.

“I think this increases the interest in Davos, because people feel the need to come together to better understand what is coming,” argues Borge Brende, head of the World Economic Forum (WEF), in an interview with the AFP.

And they will be able to take advantage of Davos to “decipher” the intentions of the new American president.

The latter must in particular make an intervention on Thursday by videoconference, during which he should also “interact live with the bosses who will be able to ask questions”, details Mr. Brende.

And even though the opening of the Davos meeting competes this year with Mr. Trump’s inauguration, “we will clearly have an American presence here in Davos” and “toward the end of the week, there will be more ‘Americans here’.

Borge Brende assures in particular that the richest man in the world and great supporter of Donald Trump “Elon Musk is more than welcome this year and also next year”. No trip to Switzerland by the billionaire has been confirmed at this stage.

What is the Davos forum still for? The question arises all the more since the values ​​of multilateralism and free trade that he has always promoted seem very far from the isolationist slogan “America first” and the drastic increases in customs duties on products entering the United States. promised by Donald Trump.

Borge Brende puts the impact of this risk into perspective, recalling that “during the first Trump presidency, world trade increased”. And that even with “the most complicated geopolitical context in generations, we still see economic growth globally”.

“We hope to build a little more trust in a world that is fragmented and polarized,” he says.

“We must be realistic politicians. We are moving away from the post-Cold War world order where we had a win-win approach. Countries compete fiercely with each other,” he admits.

But even in such a competitive situation, there are subjects where it is in their interest to “collaborate”, for example to fight climate change or avoid the emergence of a situation similar to that of the epidemic of Covid-19.

The Davos Forum is also above all the work of its founder Klaus Schwab, whose executive functions Borge Brende took over last year. “This clarifies a lot for the future, and Klaus and I work together very, very well,” says the current boss.

The year 2024 was also marked by accusations of toxic corporate culture within the WEF, reported a few months ago in the Wall Street Journal.

“We did not feel that this reflected the organization that we are, but we are also a serious organization (…) so we set up a special committee, which is independent, under the direction of the boss of Axa” with also “law firms looking at the accusations that have been made,” explains Borge Brende.

“They must come with recommendations that we will follow”, and this should happen “very quickly”, and in any case “this year”, he certifies.

“We take this seriously, we have not acknowledged ourselves in this article, but … we also want to be a world-class organization in the way we manage our people.”