Trump’s Visit to Davos 2026: A Mixed Bag of Politics and Innovation
The World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland, has always been a platform for global leaders, executives, and experts to discuss pressing issues and innovative solutions. This year’s event, which took place from January 20-23, 2026, was no exception. U.S. President Donald Trump’s whirlwind visit to the forum dominated the headlines, overshadowing other significant discussions on artificial intelligence, renewable energy, and global politics.
According to Jane Harman, a former Democratic Congresswoman, “there were two Davoses” – one focused on senior industrial leaders discussing AI and the other on foreign policy, dominated by Trump’s presence. The President’s speech, which touted America’s global role, was met with both criticism and praise from various leaders, including Gov. Gavin Newsom of California and NATO chief Mark Rutte.
Trump’s Backpedal on Greenland and the Board of Peace
In the run-up to his trip to Davos, Trump announced plans to impose new tariffs on eight European countries that opposed his bid to acquire Greenland, a semiautonomous territory of NATO member Denmark. However, he later backed off, agreeing to a “framework of a future deal” on Arctic security with NATO chief Rutte. Trump also launched his Board of Peace, aimed at maintaining a ceasefire in Israel’s war with Hamas, which drew support from some countries but criticism from others, including longtime U.S. allies in Europe.
Experts like Amnesty International Secretary-General Agnes Callamard expressed concerns about the lack of details on how the Board of Peace would work and suggested that reinforcing and improving current U.N. structures would be a better approach. “I think they were trying to duplicate – replicate – what happened when the United Nations came about,” Callamard said in an interview. “But frankly, it was a very poor and sad attempt to repeat what happened in the 1940s.”
AI and Innovation Take Center Stage
Artificial intelligence was a hot topic at the forum, with billionaire Elon Musk and Nvidia CEO Jensen Huang making their Davos debuts. Musk discussed robotics, AI’s electricity demands, and gently rebuked the Trump administration for imposing tariffs on Chinese solar panels. Huang pushed back on fears that the AI boom might wipe out jobs, saying it would create work for people building out its infrastructure.
Other AI executives, like Anthropic CEO Dario Amodei, compared the Trump administration’s move to green-light sales of an advanced Nvidia chip to selling nuclear weapons to Pyongyang. Despite these concerns, the overall mood among technology and AI executives was one of can-do optimism, encapsulated in the forum’s motto to improve the world and promote dialogue.
As forum co-chair Larry Fink, the BlackRock chairman and CEO, said at the closing ceremony, “I want to end this forum with the quote that Elon Musk said in closing yesterday’s session – that it’s better to be an optimist and wrong than be a pessimist who’s right.” For more information on the World Economic Forum in Davos 2026, visit Here
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