President Trump addresses the World Economic Forum. Is America treated unfairly?

Dr. Ryan Denison: Is America treated unfairly? Trump is not president of every nation and he should be focused on America first. At the same time, every world leader should say the same about the countries they represent. Trump should not be surprised when his America First policies don’t find universal acceptance among the world leaders whose countries do not benefit from those policies.

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Denison Forum

Dr. Ryan Denison

On Thursday morning, President Donald Trump appeared via video conference in front of a packed crowd at the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland. Trump’s statements leading up to his inauguration and in the days that followed were the talk of the conference, despite the fact that he was unable to attend in person. So when given the chance to hear from him directly, the audience of diplomats, human rights advocates, academics, and business leaders from around the globe were eager to see what he had to say.

Among the points most emphasized were:

  • The promise that companies who choose to make their products in America will pay among the lowest taxes of any nation on earth while those who don’t should expect to pay a premium in tariffs. He made it clear that America’s allies would not necessarily be exempt from any such premiums.
  • His belief that “After four long years, the United States is strong and sovereign and a beautiful nation once again. It’s a strongsovereign nation.” (His emphasis)
  • The need for the war in Ukraine to end and end quickly. Trump brought up Ukraine on several occasions and in a variety of contexts, but the thread that tied each mention together was his belief that the cost in human lives—which he claimed was much higher on both sides than has been reported—was too great to allow the conflict to continue any longer.
  • His belief that America was being taken advantage of by both its allies and other nations around the world; an imbalance that he promised to correct through tariffs and other means.

Much of Trump’s speech touched on familiar grounds to any who listened to his inaugural address or the interviews that followed (for more on the president’s executive orders and first days back in office, see this week’s episode of Culture Brief). Yet, the context at the World Economic Forum makes quite a difference in how those thoughts were received.

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