US President Trump threatens tariffs at 2025 Davos World Economic Forum | Donald Trump News

US President Donald Trump has delivered the first international speech of his second term, shown via live stream, ahead of the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland.

However, Thursday’s remarks took a combative approach to international diplomacy as he once again threatened tariffs against foreign competitors – and even allies such as the European Union (EU) and Canada.

“My message to every business in the world is very simple: Come make your product in America and we will give you among the lowest taxes of any nation on earth,” Trump said.

“But if you don’t make your product in America, which is your prerogative, then you simply have to pay a tariff. Different amounts, but one tariff.”

Trump, a real estate mogul and former reality TV star, met a largely friendly crowd at the Davos forum, known for bringing together some of the biggest business leaders in the world.

Many of those who raised questions after his speech were introduced as people Trump knew well — or even self-identified as his friend.

The Republican’s speech came just three days after he was inaugurated in Washington, DC, and his remarks echoed many of the points he raised in his inaugural address, promising once again to bring a “golden age” to the United States.

He also repeated his usual list of grievances, including against his predecessor, former President Joe Biden, and members of the previous administration.

“They have allowed other nations to take advantage of the United States. We cannot allow that to happen again,” Trump said.

Here are five key takeaways from Trump’s speech.

Trump is using a carrot-and-stick approach

The Republican Party leader led his speech with a broad appeal to business leaders around the world, urging them to move their industries to the United States.

He touted plans to cut corporate taxes and lower interest rates to create a climate conducive to business growth.

“My administration has also embarked on the largest deregulatory campaign in history, far exceeding even the record efforts of my last term,” Trump said.

He offered a trickle-down vision of American prosperity for the benefit of the entire world.

“They say that light has shone all over the world since the election. And even countries that we are not very friendly with are happy because they understand that there is a future, how great the future will be,” he said.

“Under our leadership, America is back and open for business.”

But he warned that tariffs would be imposed on companies that refuse to invest in this vision of American success.

Already in recent months, Trump has threatened to introduce tariffs of up to 60 percent on Chinese goods and 25 percent tariffs on goods from Mexico and Canada.

Trump criticizes the EU

However, the president reserved particular anger towards the European Union, which he accused of imposing burdensome regulations and attacking American companies.

He cited recent antitrust cases against US-based tech titans as examples.

“They litigated Apple and they supposedly won a case that most people didn’t think was a big case,” Trump said. “They won billions from Google. I think they’re after Facebook for billions and billions.”

He suggested that the cases were partly based on the companies’ country of origin.

“These are American companies,” Trump said. “They shouldn’t do that. To me, it’s a form of taxation.”

The USA is the EU’s best trading partner, and in 2022 the USA had a trade deficit of 131 billion. USD with the bloc of 27 countries. According to US government statistics, the US exported goods worth 592 billion. USD to the EU and imported 723 billion. USD.

Most economists believe that deficits are not necessarily a sign of trouble: trade imbalances can be the result of numerous factors, including differences in currency values ​​and spending habits.

But Trump has focused on trade deficits as a sign of economic weakness, and he has once again vowed to eliminate them, as he promised in his first term, from 2017 to 2021.

He also compared Europe’s value-added taxes – also known as VAT taxes – to a “non-economic or non-monetary tariff”.

“From an American point of view, the European Union is treating us very, very unfairly. Very badly,” Trump said. “They’re basically not taking our agricultural products and they’re not taking our cars. Yet they ship cars to us by the millions. They put tariffs on things we want to do.”

Canada: Become a state or face tariffs

In the weeks leading up to the Davos conference, Trump made it clear that he hopes to expand America’s borders in the coming years, bringing the Panama Canal and Greenland under its control.

At a press conference this month, Trump even refused to rule out “military or economic coercion” in his pursuit of those two territories.

But in Davos on Thursday, Trump spoke briefly about another country he has in his sights: Canada.

Trump has repeatedly said he would like to see Canada become the “51st state,” drawing ire from America’s northern neighbor.

“We’re going to demand respect from other nations,” Trump said in Davos, immediately turning to Canada. “We have a huge deficit with Canada. We can’t have that anymore. We can’t do it.”

According to the US government, Canada was the largest buyer of the country’s goods in 2022, accounting for $356.5 billion in purchases. An estimated $2.7 billion value of goods and services crossed the US-Canada border every day in 2023.

But Trump has vowed to impose high tariffs on Canada as a means of forcing the country to deal with drug trafficking and irregular migration across the border.

In Davos, however, Trump teased another way to avoid the tariff.

“As you probably know, I say, ‘You can always become a state. And then, if you’re a state, we don’t want a deficit. We don’t have to tariff you,'” Trump said.

However, economists have warned that tariffs could backfire as other countries could respond to the US with their own tariffs – the costs of which are likely to be borne by consumers.

Trump condemns Ukraine ‘killing fields’

Despite his aggressive stance on tariffs and the trade deficit, Trump once again touted his self-described role as a peacemaker and pointed to Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine.

The war broke out in 2022, and in Davos Trump once again took the opportunity to blame his predecessor, Biden, for allowing the invasion to unfold.

But he also pointed to another target: oil prices.

“If the price went down, the Russia-Ukraine war would end immediately,” Trump said. “Right now the price is high enough that that war will continue. You have to bring down the price of oil. You will end that war.”

While the war has driven up energy prices, it is unclear how Trump envisioned the oil market ending the war in Ukraine. Sanctions due to the war have already put significant pressure on Russia’s economy.

Trump himself has threatened further sanctions and “high levels” of tariffs against Russia if it does not end its war on Ukraine quickly.

In Davos he lamented the hundreds of thousands of lives lost on the battlefield there.

“It’s an absolute killing field. Millions of soldiers are being killed,” Trump said. “No one has seen anything like this since World War II. They lie dead everywhere on the flat fields.”

But, he added, efforts to secure a peace settlement “are now hopefully under way”. He also teased a possible deal with Russia to dismantle all or part of its nuclear arsenal.

“We would like to see denuclearization,” Trump said, citing conversations with Russian President Vladimir Putin during his first term.

“I will tell you that President Putin really liked the idea of ​​cutting way back on nuclear power. And I think the rest of the world, we would have had them follow suit, and China would have come along. “

Trump mocks climate change policies

As part of his push for deregulation, Trump once again lashed out at environmental policies designed to reduce carbon emissions and mitigate the climate crisis.

The United States is estimated to be the world’s second largest source of annual carbon emissions, after China. These emissions, mainly from fossil fuels, enter the atmosphere as greenhouse gases that trap heat and cause the temperature to rise.

Still, on Monday Trump again withdrew from the Paris Agreement, an international climate agreement aimed at reducing emissions.

He had previously pulled the US out of the deal in 2019 during his first term, although Biden rejoined in 2021.

In Davos, Trump again described the Paris climate agreement as “one-sided”. And he repeated his pledge to “unlock” America’s fossil fuel reserves.

“The United States has the largest amount of oil and gas of any country on Earth. And we’re going to use it,” Trump said, promising “quick approvals” for energy projects.

Trump also mocked his political opponents for promoting a “Green New Deal,” a series of policy proposals in the United States designed to cut carbon emissions.

“It was conceived by people who were average students, less than average,” Trump said.

He accused the architects of carbon-saving policies of acting on sensationalism.

“Remember the world was going to end in 12 years? Do you remember that? Well, the 12 years have come and gone. It was going to end. It was all going to foam into the ground.”

Still, climate change experts have noted that 2024 was the hottest year on record — and if current trends continue, the weather could intensify, leading to deadlier natural disasters.

Already, the United States is grappling with devastating wildfires in Southern California that have killed at least 27 people, likely fueled by unseasonably dry weather.