Davos awaits the Disrupter-in-Chief
The WEF theme this year is ‘Creating a shared future in a fractured world’. Given Trump’s role in that fracturing, the irony will be lost on few
It’s the end of January, and for some of us that can mean only one thing: The World Economic Forum (WEF) is upon us. But while the routine may be familiar, this is no ordinary Davos. US President Donald Trump announced his intention to visit the WEF a couple of weeks ago, and suddenly this annual event took on a new dimension. The forum’s theme this year is "Creating a shared future in a fractured world". When your guest of honour has arguably played a key role in fracturing that world, the sense of irony will be lost on few. This is not the first year that Donald Trump’s influence has been felt at Davos. Last year’s event coincided with his inauguration, and many world leaders stayed away. Discussions felt flat and prosaic, partly because it was so hard to predict what the world would look like in the new Trump era. Twelve incendiary months later, the eyes of the world will be on the Swiss mountain town, and the conversation could scarcely be more charged. Trump was elected, in lar...
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