Trump tries to mend relationships with leaders at World Economic Forum in Davos
DAVOS, Switzerland -- President Trump arrived at a meeting of unabashed globalists at the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland, on Thursday. After helicoptering through the snowy Swiss Alps, Mr. Trump was asked if he'd be warmly received.
"I already am. You take a look. You tell me," he said.
In his first meeting with British Prime Minister Theresa May, Mr. Trump assured reporters that the two leaders get along, despite dust-ups over terrorism and Muslim extremism.
"And I think the feeling is mutual from the standpoint of liking each other a lot," Mr.Trump said. "And so that was a little bit of a false rumor out there."
But Mr. Trump's main goal at Davos is to put a business-friendly face on his "America First" message.
"I think the real message is, we want great prosperity," he said.
On Friday, Mr. Trump will tell a gathering of business elite to reform, not abandon, the international economic system, and he'll voice support for free trade deals despite withdrawing from one with Asian-Pacific nations and threatening to abandon the North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA).
Those type of protectionist measures led to a warning from Germany's Chancellor Angela Merkel, who said, "Isolationism will get us nowhere."
And French President Emmanuel Macron seemed to joke about Mr. Trump's withdrawal from the Paris climate change accords.
"Obviously, and fortunately, you didn't invite anybody skeptical with global warming this year," said Macron.
Not all business leaders are receptive to Mr. Trump's message. Legendary investor and well-known liberal philanthropist George Soros called Mr. Trump a threat to the world, and said U.S. institutions are the only thing preventing him from turning the U.S. into a mafia state.
