The 2025 World Economic Forum is currently taking place in Davos, Switzerland with many of the world’s prominent politicians, bankers, and investors expressing cautious optimism about President Trump’s economic policies.
This year, speakers at the World Economic Forum have made notable comments, including:
German Chancellor Olaf Scholz said, “The United States is our closest ally outside Europe. And I will do everything in my power to ensure that it stays that way. My first good conversations with President Trump and also the contacts between our advisers point in this direction,” he added “In a world that is constantly on the verge of a nervous breakdown when viewed through the prism of social media, cool heads are needed.”
Chinese Vice Premier Ding Xuexiang said, “We don’t seek trade surplus. We want to import more competitive, quality products and services to promote balanced trade. China’s door of opening up will not be closed and will open even wider, and our business environment will only get better.”
European Union Commission President Ursula von der Leyen said, “Our first priority will be to engage early, discuss common interests, and be ready to negotiate. We will be pragmatic, but we will always stand by our principles. To protect our interests and uphold our values – that is the European way.” She added, “We play by the rules. Our deals have no hidden strings attached. And while others are only interested in exporting and extracting, we want to see local industries flourish in partner countries. Because this is also in our interest.”
JPMorgan Chase Head of Asset and Wealth Management, Mary Callahan Erdoes, said, “The last 24 hours are showing that there’s going to be a lot of changes that we all have to digest. “At JPMorgan we have a war room set up to analyse and evaluate each and every one of these, so they have been up all night and are working on it. Time will tell but a lot of this is exactly what you would do to have a very pro-business environment.”
Standard Chartered CEO Bill Winters said, “We’ll see what comes through in terms of tariffs…but we know China is a big part of that in terms of having a gigantic export surplus, and that will be under attack from all parts of the world.”
Elon Musk, OpenAI’s Sam Altman, Mark Zuckerberg, and Uber’s Dara Khosrowshahi all chose to remain in the U.S. to attend President Trump’s inauguration instead of attending the Forum.
By CEO NA Editorial Staff
