The Fort Worth Press - Between laughs and 'disaster', Trump divides Davos

USD -
AED 3.673042
AFN 72.04561
ALL 90.426454
AMD 393.432155
ANG 1.790208
AOA 916.000367
ARS 1081.039361
AUD 1.654807
AWG 1.8
AZN 1.70397
BAM 1.784082
BBD 2.031653
BDT 122.253136
BGN 1.786375
BHD 0.376648
BIF 2990.649943
BMD 1
BND 1.345222
BOB 6.952794
BRL 5.844604
BSD 1.006157
BTN 85.842645
BWP 14.014139
BYN 3.292862
BYR 19600
BZD 2.021163
CAD 1.42275
CDF 2873.000362
CHF 0.861746
CLF 0.0249
CLP 955.539339
CNY 7.28155
CNH 7.295041
COP 4181.710376
CRC 509.007982
CUC 1
CUP 26.5
CVE 100.583808
CZK 23.045604
DJF 179.18358
DKK 6.808204
DOP 63.5439
DZD 133.249715
EGP 50.555986
ERN 15
ETB 132.622212
EUR 0.91245
FJD 2.314904
FKP 0.774531
GBP 0.776488
GEL 2.750391
GGP 0.774531
GHS 15.453612
GIP 0.774531
GMD 71.461814
GNF 8669.802009
GTQ 7.716149
GYD 210.168965
HKD 7.774655
HNL 25.661585
HRK 6.871704
HTG 132.890785
HUF 370.408231
IDR 16571.70415
ILS 3.741565
IMP 0.774531
INR 85.511582
IQD 1310.012402
IRR 42003.703205
ISK 132.195716
JEP 0.774531
JMD 157.257424
JOD 0.70904
JPY 146.96104
KES 129.458675
KGS 86.768703
KHR 3997.413216
KMF 448.929755
KPW 900.000008
KRW 1460.898192
KWD 0.308471
KYD 0.820003
KZT 508.402314
LAK 21614.631408
LBP 90013.256713
LKR 295.427831
LRD 199.87708
LSL 19.106655
LTL 2.95274
LVL 0.60489
LYD 4.833883
MAD 9.545567
MDL 17.570983
MGA 4650.986319
MKD 56.074316
MMK 2099.341751
MNT 3508.091945
MOP 8.007849
MRU 39.895403
MUR 44.572925
MVR 15.45336
MWK 1733.408678
MXN 20.42675
MYR 4.436766
MZN 63.569588
NAD 19.106655
NGN 1529.710967
NIO 36.648194
NOK 10.75864
NPR 136.882666
NZD 1.786368
OMR 0.384998
PAB 1
PEN 3.678016
PGK 4.09838
PHP 57.406582
PKR 280.349118
PLN 3.894301
PYG 8051.312968
QAR 3.640374
RON 4.543573
RSD 106.910099
RUB 84.408708
RWF 1410.456645
SAR 3.750373
SBD 8.499799
SCR 14.808814
SDG 599.188018
SEK 9.989435
SGD 1.345976
SHP 0.785843
SLE 22.750371
SLL 20969.501083
SOS 569.536574
SRD 36.504913
STD 20697.981008
SVC 8.75037
SYP 13001.836564
SZL 19.106655
THB 34.316411
TJS 10.845699
TMT 3.49741
TND 3.056623
TOP 2.404411
TRY 37.99602
TTD 6.731512
TWD 33.207637
TZS 2665.220063
UAH 41.465337
UGX 3656.581024
UYU 42.25152
UZS 12934.705202
VES 70.624618
VND 25785.448419
VUV 122.117516
WST 2.799576
XAF 598.573006
XAG 0.033794
XAU 0.000329
XCD 2.700132
XDR 0.746748
XOF 598.573006
XPF 108.892442
YER 245.542765
ZAR 19.097504
ZMK 9001.203587
ZMW 27.907397
ZWL 321.999592
  • SCS

    -0.0600

    10.68

    -0.56%

  • GSK

    -2.4800

    36.53

    -6.79%

  • RBGPF

    69.0200

    69.02

    +100%

  • BCC

    0.8100

    95.44

    +0.85%

  • RIO

    -3.7600

    54.67

    -6.88%

  • NGG

    -3.4600

    65.93

    -5.25%

  • AZN

    -5.4600

    68.46

    -7.98%

  • VOD

    -0.8700

    8.5

    -10.24%

  • CMSC

    0.0300

    22.29

    +0.13%

  • RYCEF

    -1.5500

    8.25

    -18.79%

  • JRI

    -0.8600

    11.96

    -7.19%

  • BCE

    0.0500

    22.71

    +0.22%

  • BTI

    -2.0600

    39.86

    -5.17%

  • RELX

    -3.2800

    48.16

    -6.81%

  • CMSD

    0.1600

    22.83

    +0.7%

  • BP

    -2.9600

    28.38

    -10.43%

Between laughs and 'disaster', Trump divides Davos
Between laughs and 'disaster', Trump divides Davos / Photo: © AFP

Between laughs and 'disaster', Trump divides Davos

As Donald Trump appeared on giant screens at the World Economic Forum in Davos, the world's rich and powerful rapturously applauded and snapped photos of the US leader. But by the end, the crowd had mixed feelings.

Text size:

Executives, diplomats and officials stood in a long line like fans at a rock concert to pack into the main hall of the WEF's congress centre in the Swiss ski resort.

"Everyone in the room was listening with rapt attention. He's been the talk of the week without any question," said Daniel Signorelli, a skincare company executive.

"Some of the things he said were just not true. But at the same time, there were kernels of truth in some of it. I think everyone's kind of taking a wait-and-see approach," he told AFP after the address.

"It shows one reason why he won the election, which is he speaks forcefully, you may not agree with everything, but he speaks with a great deal of force," said Stuart Eizenstat, a former US ambassador to the European Union who is now working for a law firm.

Some attendees were fiercely critical but refused to comment or would only speak to AFP on condition of anonymity.

One American businessman said it was a "disaster. He seems to have completely bought all of the misinformation surrounding him. It's scary".

Meanwhile, another attendee cried "God help us" as he left.

- 'Special' day -

Half an hour before the speech, a long queue began forming, which one Indian businessman said he had only seen twice before in the 30 years he had been coming to the forum -- both times for Trump's speeches in 2018 and 2020.

"Today's special," said a security officer, adding that "we had to have reinforcements".

Another room was also set up to commandeer more of the curious to watch elsewhere.

Trump amused the audience when he mentioned that Saudi Arabia planned to invest $600 billion in the United States but he would ask Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman to "round it out" to $1 trillion.

The laughter in the room angered Amnesty International head Agnes Callamard. "The business community has absolutely fallen in love with what he is offering," she said.

- Europe 'hears' Trump -

A quirk of the calendar meant that this year's gathering started on the same day as Trump's inauguration, after which he signed a flurry of executive orders.

Speaking from the White House behind a lectern with the presidential seal and an image of an eagle at his side, Trump reeled off the list of actions he has taken already.

Those in the packed hall included former US secretary of state John Kerry and World Trade Organization chief Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala, as well as European Central Bank President Christine Lagarde and International Monetary Fund managing director Kristalina Georgieva.

With a president strongly pushing an America first approach to trade back in the White House, his threats to slap tariffs on allies has been high on the agenda.

He repeated his warnings, telling businesses to make their products in the United States to benefit from the lowest taxes, or face a tariff.

He also accused Europe of treating the United States "very, very unfairly".

Norwegian Foreign Minister Espen Barth Eide, whose country belongs to the European Economic Area including the EU, defended free trade.

L.Rodriguez--TFWP