Trump Trots Out Greatest Tariff Threat Hits During Virtual Davos Appearance
- President Donald Trump reiterated his "America First" agenda and called upon nations to invest in the U.S. during his virtual remarks at the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland.
After a busy week of lobbing tariff threats from the White House, President Donald Trump took to the stage virtually at the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland, on Thursday to deliver hotly anticipated remarks on the state of global trade.
Trump’s remarks at Davos followed what has already become a familiar script. The speech and subsequent saw Trump reiterate his “America First” agenda, focusing heavily on domestic industry.
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“My message to every business in the world is very simple: Come make your product in America and we will give you among the lowest taxes of any nation on Earth,” Trump said in a video address. “But if you don’t make your product in America, which is your prerogative, then, very simply, you will have to pay a tariff.”
“Under the Trump administration, there will be no better place on Earth to create jobs, build factories, or grow a company than right here in the good old USA,” he added.
The president also called upon nations across the globe to invest in the U.S., saying they’d enjoy low tax rates and a favorable regulatory landscape. “I’ll demand that interest rates drop immediately,” Trump said. “And likewise, they should be dropping all over the world. Interest rates should follow us all over.”
Trump has spent much of his first week in office hitting out at other nations for everything from fentanyl smuggling to geopolitical strife, reinforcing a desire to tariff Mexico for drug cartels and the migrant crisis, Canada for alleged illicit border crossings and a trade deficit and Russia for the war in Ukraine.
He largely reiterated those claims, saying “it’s not fair” that Canada’s trade deficit with the U.S. is so high. Notably, Trump claimed that the inequity amounted to between $200 billion and $250 billion, when the U.S. Department of Commerce’s Bureau of Economic Analysis (BEA) actually puts the goods and services trade deficit with Canada at $40.6 million in 2023.
Speaking about Russia and Ukraine , he added, “One thing [that’s] very important: I really would like to be able to meet with President Putin soon and get that war ended.” Trump told Thursday’s audience, after threatening Russia with tariffs on Wednesday if it didn’t soon reach a “deal” to wrap up the conflict, “We really have to stop that war. That war is horrible.”
The president also targeted the European Union again, highlighting a trade deficit with the U.S. that he has branded “unfair” and a regulatory environment he said has been challenging for American agriculture and auto makers.
“They…essentially don’t take our farm products,” he said of EU nations. “And they don’t take our cars.” Regulators “make it very difficult to bring products into Europe,” he added.
“We have, you know, hundreds of millions of dollars of deficits with the EU, and nobody’s happy with it. We’re going to do something about it.”
World leaders have had mixed responses to Trump’s emerging trade agenda. Many have opted to choose their words carefully as not to inflame tensions, while some have pushed back on the U.S. president’s efforts at intimidation.
Following unspecified tariff threats against its member countries, EU Commission President Ursula von der Leyen said that both sides have much to lose by engaging in a trade war. She said Europe would be ready to negotiate with Trump in a “pragmatic” way that preserves its values while prioritizing common interests.
EU economy commissioner Valdis Dombrovskis also highlighted the potential economic challenges for Europe, America and the rest of the world should the trade partners’ relationship break down. But he stopped short of capitulating to Trump, saying that the EU would respond in a “proportionate way” if tariffs are imposed.
Outgoing Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau on Tuesday told reporters that Canada’s “focus is remaining calm, remaining strong and responding as necessary to actions by the U.S.” While he’s undoubtedly hoping to stave off a tariff battle, he noted, “Our response will be robust, and rapid, and measured, and very strong” if Trump makes good on his 25-percent duty threat.
Meanwhile, Saudi Arabia has proven itself eager to work with the new White House.
Trump has blamed the country, along with Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC), for bolstering the war in Ukraine with high oil prices. Russia is among the world’s biggest oil exporters, and it has relied on that revenue to fuel its military actions. The president said in his speech that he would ask Saudi Arabia for its help in bringing down the price of oil.
Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman called Trump on Thursday with a speedy response to the president’s calls for foreign investment. “The crown prince affirmed the kingdom’s intention to broaden its investments and trade with the United States over the next four years, in the amount of $600 billion, and potentially beyond that,” a statement from a state-run media outlet read.
Notably, China , a frequent and longstanding target for Trump, was not a major focus of his Davos remarks. The president’s efforts earlier this week to save social media platform Tik Tok from being shut down (after leading the charge against the platform several years earlier for its ties to China’s communist government) seem to have tempered his appetite for a fight with President Xi Jinping, with whom he said he had a “great” relationship.
In fact, Trump did not mention China at all during his prepared speech, and only commented on the U.S.-China trade relationship during a question and answer session. He told the audience that while the U.S. trade deficit with the Asian superpower was “out of hand,” he doesn’t expect the relationship to be “phenomenal”—just “fair.”
He also asked China to help end the war in Ukraine through denuclearization.
China’s official remarks on Trump’s recent threats (on Tuesday, he said his administration was considering levying 10-percent tariffs on China starting next month) have been notably measured.
In a press conference Thursday, China Foreign Ministry spokesperson Mao Ning responded to a question from a reporter about heightened concerns from American businesses in China about the fraying bilateral trade relationship. The U.S. Chamber of Commerce released a survey saying anxiety about the situation had reached its highest point in five years.
“This actually reflects how important it is to pursue a steady, sound and sustainable China-U.S. relationship,” Ning said. “China always views and develops China-U.S. ties in line with the three principles put forth by President Xi Jinping, namely mutual respect, peaceful coexistence and win-win cooperation. We also hope the U.S. will work with China and bring China-U.S. relations back onto the track of sound and steady development.”
