As Davos begins, deference to Trump on everyone’s mind

The traditional rhetoric of the World Economic Forum centred on global integration, climate change and international cooperation. Not anymore, writes Peter Goodman from Davos, Switzerland

- Peter Goodman

Some 3,000 participants from 130 countries are heading to Davos.

(REUTERS)

Even in the heyday of the liberal democratic order, the conceit of the World Economic Forum induced scepticism: Once a year, the wealthiest, most powerful people on earth gather in a village in the Swiss Alps to devise solutions to the most critical problems in modern life.

The slogan of the forum, “Committed to Improving the State of the World,” has long encapsulated the reason for doubt. People with the greatest stake in the status quo — billionaire executives who run the largest banks and technology companies — are cast as change agents, uniting with world leaders to pursue the betterment of humanity.

But this year, with the world seized by geopolitical turmoil, and the United States ruled by a president who is hostile to the concept of multilateral cooperation, Davos seems especially challenged by internal contradictions.

The event's most prominent attendee, President Trump, leads the country that was the architect of the post-World War II order, one centred on collective security and liberalised trade. He has applied his authority to pursue a global trade war while threatening to seize Greenland from Denmark, a fellow member of Nato. Over the weekend, he said he would impose new tariffs on a bloc of European nations if they continued to oppose his efforts to take control of the Danish territory.

He is the headline participant at the forum, an institution viewed as a cheerleader for the globalisation he has long demonised.

Forum organisers are accustomed to the contortions of packaging a gathering of executives and world leaders as a vision quest. Yet the divergence between the organisation's traditional ideals and the new workings of power are so stark this year that they appear to have induced surrender, an acceptance that no set of principles can unite the people flocking to Davos, Switzerland.