President Donald Trump Thursday used an address to the World Economic Forum to promise global elites lower taxes if they bring manufacturing to the US and threatened to impose tariffs if they don’t.
Speaking by video from the White House to the annual summit in Davos, Switzerland, on his third full day in office, Trump ran through his flurry of executive actions since his swearing-in and claimed that he had a “massive mandate” from the American people to bring change. He laid out a carrot-and-stick approach for private investment in the US.
“Come make your product in America and we will give you among the lowest taxes as any nation on earth,” Trump said. “But if you don’t make your product in America, which is your prerogative, then very simply, you will have to pay a tariff — differing amounts — but a tariff, which will direct hundreds of billions of dollars and even trillions of dollars into our treasury to strengthen our economy and pay down debt under the Trump administration.”
Trump, who spoke Wednesday to Saudi Arabia’s crown prince, also said Thursday that the kingdom wants to invest $600 billion in the US but that he would ask Mohammed bin Salman to increase it to $1 trillion. The remark drew some laughter from the crowd in the hall in Davos.
Introducing Trump, WEF founder Klaus Schwab told the new president that his return and his agenda have “been at the focus of our discussions this week”. He invited Trump to speak at the summit in person next year.
Trump, who promised to end the Russia-Ukraine war before taking office, said it remained a top priority, but he offered few clues for how he would do so.
“One thing very important: I really would like to be able to meet with President Putin soon and get that war ended,” Trump told the Davos audience. “We really have to stop that war. That war is horrible”
Earlier in his address to the forum, Trump laid blame on the OPEC+ alliance of oil exporting countries for keeping the price of oil too high for much of the nearly three-year war. Oil sales are the economic engine driving Moscow’s economy.
“If the price came down, the Russia-Ukraine war would end immediately,” Trump said. He added about OPEC+, “They are very responsible to a certain extent for what’s taking place.”
Trump also called for NATO nations to increase their defense spending to 5% of GDP, emphasising that the United States has been shouldering an unfair burden in global defence spending, particularly in the Ukraine war.
He also highlighted the disparity in financial contributions, noting that the US has spent $200 billion more than NATO on the conflict.
The US president accused the CEOs of Bank of America and JPMorgan Chase of not providing banking services to conservatives, but offered no evidence or specifics of any wrongdoing.
“I hope you start opening your bank to conservatives, because many conservatives complain that the banks are not allowing them to do business within the bank, and that included a place called Bank of America. ... what you're doing is wrong,” Trump said during a question and answer session with corporate leaders and CEOs, who were assembled on stage.
I really would like to be able to meet with President Putin soon to get that war ended.
I’ll demand that interest rates drop immediately. And likewise, they should be dropping all over the world.
Budget with ET
Rising Bharat may need to take center stage for India’s game-changing plans
Will Indian Railways accelerate to global standards with govt’s budgetary allocation?
Budget 2025 to catapult India's domestic manufacturing to a global scale
“Come make your product in America and we will give you among the lowest taxes as any nation on earth,” Trump said. “But if you don’t make your product in America, which is your prerogative, then very simply, you will have to pay a tariff — differing amounts — but a tariff, which will direct hundreds of billions of dollars and even trillions of dollars into our treasury to strengthen our economy and pay down debt under the Trump administration.”
Trump, who spoke Wednesday to Saudi Arabia’s crown prince, also said Thursday that the kingdom wants to invest $600 billion in the US but that he would ask Mohammed bin Salman to increase it to $1 trillion. The remark drew some laughter from the crowd in the hall in Davos.
Introducing Trump, WEF founder Klaus Schwab told the new president that his return and his agenda have “been at the focus of our discussions this week”. He invited Trump to speak at the summit in person next year.
Trump, who promised to end the Russia-Ukraine war before taking office, said it remained a top priority, but he offered few clues for how he would do so.
“One thing very important: I really would like to be able to meet with President Putin soon and get that war ended,” Trump told the Davos audience. “We really have to stop that war. That war is horrible”
Earlier in his address to the forum, Trump laid blame on the OPEC+ alliance of oil exporting countries for keeping the price of oil too high for much of the nearly three-year war. Oil sales are the economic engine driving Moscow’s economy.
“If the price came down, the Russia-Ukraine war would end immediately,” Trump said. He added about OPEC+, “They are very responsible to a certain extent for what’s taking place.”
Trump also called for NATO nations to increase their defense spending to 5% of GDP, emphasising that the United States has been shouldering an unfair burden in global defence spending, particularly in the Ukraine war.
He also highlighted the disparity in financial contributions, noting that the US has spent $200 billion more than NATO on the conflict.
The US president accused the CEOs of Bank of America and JPMorgan Chase of not providing banking services to conservatives, but offered no evidence or specifics of any wrongdoing.
“I hope you start opening your bank to conservatives, because many conservatives complain that the banks are not allowing them to do business within the bank, and that included a place called Bank of America. ... what you're doing is wrong,” Trump said during a question and answer session with corporate leaders and CEOs, who were assembled on stage.
I really would like to be able to meet with President Putin soon to get that war ended.
I’ll demand that interest rates drop immediately. And likewise, they should be dropping all over the world.
