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Trump to attend Davos as global cooperation cast into doubt

Donald Trump will be the major draw at this year’s World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland, even as the U.S. president’s policies continue to undermine the spirit of global cooperation the elite gathering has championed in the past.

“We’re pleased to welcome back President Trump to Davos, and he’s bringing the largest U.S. delegation ever,” WEF chief executive Børge Brende said at a press conference Tuesday.

The U.S. president will bring “five secretaries and also other key players,” including a bipartisan delegation from the U.S. Congress, Brende said.

The World Economic Forum, which takes place next week in the Alpine ski resort, comes as the world hangs on Trump’s words.

Since the start of the month, Trump has captured Venezuelan dictator Nicolás Maduro, threatened to invade Greenland, hinted he could take action in Iran over violent crackdowns on protesters, announced a temporary cap on credit card interest rates that has stoked fears of a credit crunch, and opened a criminal investigation into Jerome Powell, chair of the U.S. Federal Reserve.

Brende said the meeting will take place “against the most complex geopolitical backdrop since 1945.”

According to the WEF, Trump will be joined by Canadian PM Mark Carney, China’s Vice-Premier He Lifeng, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy and leaders from Israel and Palestine.

From Europe, European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen will attend along with leaders from Germany, Spain, Belgium, Finland, Greece, Ireland, the Netherlands, Poland and Serbia. NATO Secretary-General Mark Rutte will also join.

The informal grouping of countries supporting Ukraine, known as the “coalition of the willing,” are expected to meet with Trump and Zelenskyy on the sidelines of the WEF to seek U.S. backing for security guarantees for Ukraine, the Financial Times reported.

Business leaders, including the head of AI giant Nvidia Jensen Huang and top executives from Microsoft, Meta, Palantir, Anthropic and OpenAI, will join senior leaders from JPMorgan, Goldman Sachs, BlackRock and other major finance players in Davos.

International organizations, which have seen their standing and funding rocked by Trump’s administration — including last week’s U.S. withdrawal from dozens of international organizations and the world’s overarching climate change treaty — will also attend. The heads of the United Nations, the World Trade Organization, the World Bank, the International Monetary Fund, the World Health Organization and the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development will take part.

Celebrities and artists including David Beckham, Yo-Yo Ma, Marina Abramović, Matt Damon and will.i.am will also attend.

The theme of the gathering will be “A Spirit of Dialogue.”

“We do hope that a spirit of dialogue can also lead to areas where the leaders can find overlaps in interests,” Brende said.

LP Staff Writers

Writers at Lord’s Press come from a range of professional backgrounds, including history, diplomacy, heraldry, and public administration. Many publish anonymously or under initials—a practice that reflects the publication’s long-standing emphasis on discretion and editorial objectivity. While they bring expertise in European nobility, protocol, and archival research, their role is not to opine, but to document. Their focus remains on accuracy, historical integrity, and the preservation of events and individuals whose significance might otherwise go unrecorded.

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