Trump To Take Virtual Centre Stage In Davos

Donald Trump will star in an eagerly-anticipated online appearance at the World Economic Forum in Davos on Thursday, addressing global elites whose annual gabfest has been consumed by the US president's days-old second term.

Trump's name has come up in almost every conversation in the Swiss Alpine village this week -- in formal panel discussions, in shuttles ferrying people up and down the mountain, and in exclusive parties along the promenade.

Davos will finally hear from the man himself during a live video appearance, with banking and oil industry CEOs given the chance to lob questions at Trump, himself a businessman who made his fortune in real estate.

One of the Republican president's biggest cheerleaders on the world stage, Argentina's libertarian President Javier Milei, took the stage hours before Trump, delivering a fiery speech against "the mental virus of woke ideology".

Milei said Argentina was "re-embracing the idea of freedom" and "that is what I trust President Trump will do in this new America".

He praised like-minded leaders such as Trump, Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban and El Salvador's President Nayib Bukele.

"Slowly an international alliance has been formed of all those nations that want to be free and that believe in the ideas of freedom," he said.

He also defended his "dear friend" Elon Musk.

The US billionaire and Trump ally caused a stir this week by making hand gestures at an inauguration event for the US president that drew comparisons to the Nazi salute.

Milei said Musk, the CEO of Tesla and SpaceX, has been "unfairly vilified by wokeism in recent hours for an innocent gesture that only means... his gratitude to the people".

Trump has already given Davos a taste of what is to come since his inauguration on Monday, which coincided with the WEF's first day -- tariff warnings against Mexico and Canada, the US withdrawal from the Paris climate pact and a threat to take the Panama Canal, just to name a few.

His plans to cut taxes, reduce the size of the US federal government and deregulate industries may find a sympathetic ear amongst many businesses, though economists warn the policies could rekindle inflation.

One of his backers in the business world, Marc Benioff, the chief executive of US tech firm Salesforce, was enthusiastic at a Bloomberg event on Wednesday.

"I'm very positive," he said. "I'm just looking forward to seeing what's going to happen. And it's a new day and, it's an exciting moment."

Trump will be quizzed by Bank of America chief executive Brian Moynihan, Blackstone investment firm boss Stephen Schwarzman, Spanish group Banco Santander executive chairwoman Ana Botin and the head of French oil and gas giant TotalEnergies, Patrick Pouyanne.

US trade partners and rivals already had a chance to react in Davos earlier this week, as they brace for a second round of his America First policies.

Without invoking Trump's name, Chinese Vice Premier Ding Xuexiang warned: "There are no winners in a trade war."

European Commission president Ursula von der Leyen said Brussels was ready to negotiate with Trump. But she also underscored the European Union's diverging policy with him on climate, saying the bloc would stick by the Paris accord.

Julie Teigland, a managing partner at EY consulting firm, told AFP: "Trump has been running America like America Inc. He's been very focused on getting the best advantage for the US in any way that he can."

"He knows that he needs trade partners to do that. He does. And so I expect him to give messages along these lines," she said.