DAVOS, Switzerland — President Trump video-conferenced the World Economic Forum a year ago, imploring the gathered global elite to demand lower interest rates and threaten tariffs against those making products anywhere other than the U.S.
This year, he is heading to the Alpine summit with a group of American officials amid a backdrop of massive change at home and abroad due to his own unorthodox actions. Suddenly, an event that was once dismissed as a talking shop for executives who think they can solve the world’s problems has become a must-see gathering that people are eager to attend.
Trump is expected to address the confab in person for the first time in six years. World Economic Forum Chief Executive Borge Brende said Secretary of State Marco Rubio, Treasury Secretary Scott Besant, Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick and special envoy Steve Witkoff also help make up the largest U.S. delegation in years.
This year’s gathering “is taking place against the most complex geopolitical backdrop since 1945,” Brende said on a media call ahead of the event.
The official agenda includes topics such as innovation, economic growth and “building prosperity within planetary boundaries”, a phrase that refers to discussions on how to achieve growth while protecting the climate. But talks are expected to be dominated by the Trump administration’s actions ranging from calls to take control of Greenland to tariffs and taking on Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro.
“There’s always been a big elephant in the room that people had to dance around (at Davos) and now the US is the big elephant in that room,” said David Kenny, Nielsen’s independent director and former CEO, who is attending his 24th Davos summit this year. The ongoing conflicts in Ukraine and Gaza are also top of mind for world leaders.
Trump plans to use the platform to address at least one of his domestic priorities. he said A post on Truth Social That he wants to discuss new housing and affordability proposals in his Davos speech. He recently said he was planning to ban large institutional investors By purchasing more single-family homes.
The US delegation is expected to take over the conference venue in the center of a cool mountain resort converted into a late 19th-century church. The USA House, whose walls are decorated with signs celebrating America’s 250th anniversary, is expected to be a hub of activity for meetings and other events.
Initially, the USA House had planned to engage administration officials on Wednesday and Thursday, but now with so many US officials likely to be on the ground, the programming has been expanded to a weeklong session with the US delegation, according to a person familiar with the matter.
Scammers have attempted to sell “VIP passes” at the venue. Organizers posted a warning on the USA House website this weekend that, noting the volume of inquiries this year, “suggests that these fake VIP passes may be the fastest-selling fantasy about Davos since Thomas Mann’s Magic Mountain.”
Trump’s planned visit to the World Economic Forum has permeated the week’s festivities, from schedules to security arrangements and ID badges.
Thomas Crampton, a longtime Davos attendee, said he was offered a hotel badge for 1,200 Swiss francs, more than the actual cost of 165 francs, which is equivalent to about $1,500. Due to a shortage of hotels and apartments, some attendees are preparing to set up mattresses in the back rooms of stores or in hotel gyms, he said.
The “off-the-charts” interest in Davos this year reflects the state of confusion in the world, he said. “In times of uncertainty, people look for ways to get information, and they look for connections and to understand things,” said Crampton, founder and CEO of Narrative Alpha, a firm that helps venture capitalists and entrepreneurs raise capital. “There is a huge hunger to know where the world is going.”
Jonas Prysing, CEO of staffing company ManpowerGroup, who has attended Davos for nearly 17 years, said he expects the state of trade and global alliances to be one of the top issues discussed throughout the week.
“This question has been debated in the past – irrelevance and global elites and all that – given everything that’s going on, I think there’s a lot of interest in the meeting,” he said. The big question is: How can we deal with this as a nation, as a region and as an organization?”
In the past, the WEF annual meeting has played a major role in launching and shaping global initiatives, including some from which the US has distanced itself under Trump. These include Gavi, an international coalition that helps children in poor countries get vaccines. Health Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. said last year that the U.S. will stop funding the program.
The secluded alpine village of Davos has hosted the World Economic Forum since 1971, attracting world leaders, billionaires and celebrities in what has become an extraordinary extravaganza.
Due to lack of meeting places in the city, companies take over stores, restaurants, etc. Even doctors’ offices To create temporary offices near the main promenade. The Hilton Garden Inn is an unusual powerhouse, prized for its location; Microsoft co-founder Bill Gates and Apple CEO Tim Cook have been seen there in past years. There is snow on the sidewalks, toilets are difficult to access and multiple security checkpoints mean attendees are constantly – yet cautiously – running, or waiting in lines.
Organizers said the 3,000 expected participants this year include 850 CEOs and chairmen of the world’s top companies. More than 60 heads of state and government, including German Chancellor Friedrich Merz and Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky, will be joined by business leaders including Microsoft’s Satya Nadella, JPMorgan’s Jamie Dimon and Nvidia CEO Jensen Huang.
“Trump is resetting the world agenda and Davos needs to follow suit,” said Mark Penn, a former Clinton adviser turned advertising executive.
Longtime attendees say that at this week’s gathering, discussions on climate change and diversity, equality and inclusion – two long-standing Davos themes – are likely to be more subdued than in years past. Trump’s administration has focused on rolling back DEI initiatives and dismantling so-called woke ideology. It is taking steps to dismantle DEI programs in the federal government and corporate America.
During this, Trump criticized DEI initiative the speech he actually gave Last year, attendees at Davos denounced such policies as discriminatory and praised his work to end them. “These were policies that were absolutely nonsense across the entire government and private sector,” Trump said.
The official theme of the 56th WEF Assembly is “The Spirit of Dialogue”, with an agenda that highlights increased polarization and how growing competition between major powers is changing global influence.
While more than a dozen sessions on the program this year discuss climate issues, some parts of the agenda acknowledge the polarization of the topic. Last year, there were about 27 sessions under the discussion track titled Safeguarding the Planet.
This is the first year of the conference under new leadership at the World Economic Forum. The Geneva-based WEF has been grappling with governance issues and leadership changes, with the exit of founder Klaus Schwab in April.
Schwab resigned as executive chairman last year after the board launched an investigation allegation of an informant Misconduct by him and his wife, including unauthorized expenses and inappropriate behavior with female employees. Schwab has denied any wrongdoing; The board found minor expenditure irregularities, but no major irregularities.
The conference organizer reshuffled its board leadership in the wake of the investigation, and named BlackRock CEO Larry Fink and Andre Hoffman, vice chairman of Swiss pharmaceutical company Roche Holding, as interim co-chairs.
The race to develop cutting-edge artificial-intelligence tools is expected to be another major topic of discussion this year. “I think the impact of this on work and workers and skills is going to be front and center,” said Maria Flynn, CEO of the nonprofit Jobs for the Future.
And after a year of dealing with tariffs, supply chains and trade instability, many CEOs say they are eager to return to growth mode.
Christoph Schweizer, CEO of Boston Consulting Group, said a client told him they “can’t squeeze any more lemons” into cutting costs, and instead wanted to look for deals and new investments to increase revenues, efforts likely to be made in Davos.
“2026 is a development imperative,” Schweizer said.
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