Trump to face questions from banking, oil CEOs in Davos virtual appearance

US president name has consistently come up in almost every conversation at the World Economic Forum this week.

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Banking and oil executives will quiz Donald Trump at the World Economic Forum in Davos on Thursday as the US president makes a much-anticipated online appearance to the gathering of global elites.

Trump’s name has come up in almost every conversation in the Swiss Alpine village this week — in formal panel discussions, in shuttles ferrying people up and down the mountain, and in exclusive parties along the promenade.

Davos will finally hear from the man himself during a live video appearance, with banking and oil industry CEOs given the chance to lob questions at Trump, himself a businessman who made his fortune in real estate.

One of the Republican president’s biggest cheerleaders on the world stage, Argentina’s libertarian President Javier Milei, took the stage hours before Trump, delivering a fiery speech against “the mental virus of woke ideology”.

Milei said Argentina was “re-embracing the idea of freedom” and “that is what I trust President Trump will do in this new America”.

He praised like-minded leaders such as Trump, Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban and El Salvador’s President Nayib Bukele.

“Slowly an international alliance has been formed of all those nations that want to be free and that believe in the ideas of freedom,” he said.

He also defended his “dear friend” Elon Musk. The US billionaire and Trump ally caused a stir this week by making hand gestures at an inauguration event for the US president that drew comparisons to the Nazi salute.

Milei said Musk, the CEO of Tesla and SpaceX, has been “unfairly vilified by wokeism in recent hours for an innocent gesture that only means … his gratitude to the people”.

‘A new day’
Trump has already given Davos a taste of what is to come since his inauguration on Monday, which coincided with the WEF’s first day.

He has threatened tariffs on China, the European Union, Mexico and Canada, pulled the United States from the Paris climate pact and renewed his claim to the Panama Canal, to name a few.

His plans to cut taxes, reduce the size of the US federal government and deregulate industries may find a sympathetic ear amongst many businesses, though economists warn the policies could rekindle inflation.

Trump will take questions from Bank of America chief executive Brian Moynihan, Blackstone investment firm boss Stephen Schwarzman, Spanish group Banco Santander executive chairwoman Ana Botin and the head of French oil and gas giant TotalEnergies, Patrick Pouyanne.

One of his backers in the business world, Marc Benioff, the chief executive of US tech firm Salesforce, was enthusiastic at a Bloomberg event on Wednesday.

“I’m very positive,” he said. “I’m just looking forward to seeing what’s going to happen. And it’s a new day and, it’s an exciting moment.”

‘Let’s not hyperventilate?’

US trade partners and rivals already had a chance to react in Davos earlier this week, as they brace for a second round of his America First policies.

Without invoking Trump’s name, Chinese Vice Premier Ding Xuexiang warned: “There are no winners in a trade war.”

European Commission president Ursula von der Leyen said Brussels was ready to negotiate with Trump.

But she also underscored the European Union’s diverging policy with him on climate, saying the bloc would stick by the Paris accord.

World Trade Organisation chief Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala called on cooler heads to prevail during a WEF panel discussion on tariffs today, warning that tit-for-tat levies would be “catastrophic” for the world economy.

“Please let’s not hyperventilate,” she quipped. “I know we are here to discuss tariffs. I’ve been saying to everybody: could we chill, also?”