President Donald Trump laid out his approach to foreign investment at the world's largest gathering of business leaders, offering investors a one-size-fits-all offer — invest in the United States or face steep tariffs. Voice of America correspondent Anita Powell reports on the impact of President Trump's return to the White House on the global economic climate.
Faced with the world's leading industry leaders, aiming for a piece of the world's largest market, President Donald Trump was given two options:
"My message to businesses around the world is very simple. Come produce your products in America and we will offer you some of the lowest taxes in the world. But if you don't produce them in America, which is a privilege for you, then quite simply, you have to pay a fee," he declared.
President Trump's message contrasted with that of other major power leaders at the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland, who emphasized the multilateral approach at the annual meeting of public-private partnerships, where key figures discuss global and regional challenges — including environmental and energy issues — geopolitical upheavals and how to improve living standards and boost economic growth. President Trump called for an "honest relationship" with the world's second-largest economy, China.
China's Vice Premier Ding Xuexiang presented Beijing's position.
"Economic globalization is the result of social progress and technological advancement and cannot be stopped. Isolation does not solve problems and trade wars do not help anyone. We must seize every opportunity to give direction to economic globalization, raising it to a higher, more dynamic, more inclusive and more sustainable level," he said.
Analysts explained the logic behind President Trump's public commitment to guaranteeing Europe's supply of liquefied natural gas — a move that some say could raise prices for Americans.
"Eliminating European dependence on Russian natural gas and fuels is a very important foreign policy objective of the President. He has been very critical in the past, especially of Germany, for authorizing the Nord Stream 2 gas pipeline, which led to increased German and European dependence on Russia and fossil fuels," says analyst Bill Galston at the Brookings Institution.
Those present at President Trump's speech, over 3,000 people from over 130 countries, shared their impressions afterward.
"I think the core message that Europeans should take away from this speech is that we need to strengthen our cooperation to consolidate economic growth," says Norwegian Foreign Minister Barth Eide.
"The speech proved that one of the reasons he won the election is his ability to speak loudly. You may not agree with everything, but he speaks with a lot of authority," said former US diplomat Stuart Eizenstat, a former adviser to US President Jimmy Carter.
For Agnes Callamard, the head of the international human rights organization Amnesty International, President Trump's speech was focused on the American vision.
"It was a speech focused only on the American vision. Nothing about the rest of the world," she said.
The World Economic Forum wraps up its work on Friday with a discussion on some of the world's most pressing challenges. /VOA (A2 Televizion)
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