President Donald Trump touted a return to the American “golden age” and flaunted that there’s a new leader in town while promoting his America first agenda to the World Economic Forum on Wednesday.
“Three days ago, I took the oath of office. And we began the golden age of America,” Trump opened over a large screen over the stage, explaining later that he couldn’t be in Davos due to a quick turnaround from his inauguration, but he hoped to attend in person next year.
“The United States has the largest amount of oil and gas of any country on Earth, and we’re going to use it,” Trump boasted. “Not only will this reduce the cost of virtually all goods and services, it will make the United States a manufacturing superpower and the world capital of artificial intelligence and crypto. My administration has also begun the largest deregulation campaign in history, far exceeding even the record setting efforts of my last term.”
And Trump shared a direct message to the wealthy businessman: Invest in the U.S. or else.
“My message to every business in the world is very simple: Come make your in America and we will give you among the lowest taxes of any nation on earth. We’re bringing them down very substantially, even from the original Trump tax cut,” Trump said. “But if you don’t make your product in America, which is your prerogative, then, very simply, you will have to pay a tariff. Differing amounts, but a tariff which will direct hundreds of billions of dollars and even trillions of dollars into our treasury to strengthen our economy and pay down debt.”
Later, Trump put pressure on the Federal Reserve to lower interest rates.
“With oil prices going down, I’ll demand that interest rates drop immediately,” he said. “And likewise, they should be dropping all over the world. Interest rates should follow us all over. The progress that you’re seeing is happening because of our historic victory in a recent presidential election, one that has become quite well-known throughout the world.”
Trump touched on a number of topics from a large screen above the stage and boasted that his administration has already accomplished in four days “than other administrations have accomplished in four years. And we’re just getting started.”
The war in Ukraine
“Our efforts to secure a peace settlement between Russia and Ukraine are now hopefully underway. It’s so important to get that done,” Trump told the forum, calling the war “an absolute killing field.”
Millions of soldiers are being killed. Nobody’s seen anything like it since World War II. They’re laying dead all over the flat fields. It’s a flat field, farmland. And there’s millions of Russians and millions of Ukrainians, and nobody’s seen anything like it since World War II. It’s time to end it,” Trump said.
Trump said he would talk to Chinese President Xi Jinping in efforts to end the war. Former President Joe Biden seemed to give Xi a similar message during a rare bilateral meeting on the sidelines of APEC in November.
“Hopefully, China can help us stop the war with, in particular, Russia, Ukraine. They have a great deal of power over that situation. And we’ll work with them,” Trump said. And I mentioned that with, during our phone conversation with President Xi and hopefully we could work together and get that stopped,” Trump said.
Trump again called for NATO nations to up their defense spending from 2% to 5%, something he has advocated for since his first term in office. Asked if there would be a peace agreement with Ukraine and Russia by the time Trump takes the stage next year, he pointed his finger at Russia.
“Well, you’re going to have to ask Russia,” he said. “Ukraine is ready to, to make a deal.”
On Wednesday Trump called out Russian President Vladimir Putin in a Truth Social post, telling him “It’s time to ‘MAKE A DEAL.’ NO MORE LIVES SHOULD BE LOST!!!”
Trump’s relationship with Xi and denuclearization
Trump spoke to Xi on Friday and told the forum the two have a “good relationship” despite what he said was a rocky patch during the COVID-19 pandemic.
“But, I like President Xi very much. I’ve always liked him. We always had a very good relationship,” he said. “It was very strained with COVID coming out of Wuhan. Obviously, that strained it. I’m sure it strained it with a lot of people, but that strained our relationship. But we always had a great relationship, I would say. And we look forward to doing very well with China and getting along with China.”
Following Trump’s inauguration day, Putin and Xi spoke and agreed to develop their relationship. Trump said he wanted that relationship result in denuclearization, pointing to Putin’s threats of nuclear strikes in Ukraine, and said that he and Putin had been discussing the issue before he lost the 2020 election, and Putin “really liked the idea of cutting way back on nuclear.”
“And I think the rest of the world, we would have gotten them to follow and China would have come along too. Tremendous amounts of money being spent on nuclear,” Trump said.
Ceasefire in Gaza
Trump said that his administration has made “progress” in the Middle East, touting the ceasefire and hostage deal between Israel and Hamas that came together just days before Trump took office. Trump took full credit for the deal, which had been negotiated by former President Joe Biden and his team.
“Before even taking office, my team negotiated a ceasefire agreement in the Middle East, which wouldn’t have happened without us, as I think most of the people in the room know,” he said.
Ending DEI mandates
Trump called his Day 1 executive order abolishing government DEI policies as “historic.”
“With another historic executive order this week, I also ended the weaponization of law enforcement against the American people and, frankly, against politicians, and restored the fair, equal and impartial rule of law,” he said. “My administration has taken action to abolish all discriminatory diversity, equity and inclusion nonsense. And these are policies that were absolute nonsense throughout the government and the private sector,” before declaring “America will once again become a merit-based country.”
Securing the southern US border
Trump briefly mentioned what he characterized as his swift action to secure the southern border.
“I’ve deployed active duty U.S. military and National Guard troops to the border to assist in repelling the invasion,” he said. “It was really an invasion. We will not allow our territory to be violated. After four long years, the United States is strong and sovereign and a beautiful nation once again,” Trump said.
Major events in the U.S.
Trump also touted big events that will take place in the U.S. during his term: the 2026 World Cup, which will also have matches in Canada and Mexico; the 2028 Summer Olympics in Los Angeles; and the 250th anniversary of America’s founding.
“I was upset. I said, ‘You know, I got the Olympics to come and I won’t be president.’ But it turned out through a stroke of luck or whatever you might call it, that I’m going to be president during the World Cup and the Olympics and the 250th anniversary,” Trump said.
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