Trump touts U.S. economy in Davos during climate-focused world summit
DAVOS, Switzerland — President Donald Trump trumpeted what he called “America’s extraordinary prosperity” on his watch, taking credit for a soaring stock market, a low unemployment rate, and a “bluecollar boom” in jobs and income, in a presidential turn on the world stage also meant to make impeachment proceedings against him in Washington look small.
Mr. Trump ran through economic statistics with a salesman’s delivery, crowing about growth during his three years in office that he said bested his predecessors and defied his skeptics.
“America is thriving; America is flourishing, and, yes, America is winning again like never before,” he told an audience of billionaires, world leaders and figures from academia, media, and the kind of international organizations and think tanks for whom his “America First” nationalism is anathema.
But as the impeachment trial began in the Senate during Mr. Trump’s long day of activity here, the president repeatedly pivoted away from his broader economic message to lash out against his domestic political foes and the effort to remove him from office.
“READ THE TRANSCRIPTS!” Mr. Trump tweeted shortly after meeting with a group of global business leaders representing industries including energy, telecommunications and finance. Before the meeting, he decried the impeachment process in remarks to reporters — repeatedly calling it a “hoax.”
Mr. Trump is making his second visit to the World Economic Forum, which for its 50th anniversary this year is focusing on climate change and sustainability. A sign at the entrance to the press center notes that paint for this year’s installation was made from seaweed, and carpets from recycled fishing nets.
Mr. Trump, who has called climate change a hoax, did not directly address the theme during his 30-minute address here, although he did call for rejecting “the perennial prophets of doom and their predictions of the apocalypse” and went out of his way to urge Europe to “use America’s vast supply” of oil and natural gas.
“This is not a time for pessimism; this is a time for optimism. Fear and doubt is not a good thought process because this is a time for tremendous hope and joy and optimism and action,” Mr. Trump said.
In an apparent back of the hand to critics who say he is allowing massive backsliding on U.S. environmental progress, Mr. Trump said the United States has its cleanest air and water in 40 years.
And in remarks outside the hall, Mr. Trump said he is “a very big believer in the environment.”
In his speech, Mr. Trump made no mention of impeachment or U.S. politics, although he took a swipe at “radical socialists,” his term for Democrats and ideas about expansion of the government role in health care, education and other issues.
Klaus Schwab, founder and executive chairman of the forum, thanked Mr. Trump “for injecting optimism” into the discussion.
“We have many problems in the world, but we need dreams,” he said.
Mr. Trump skipped an onstage question-and-answer session with Mr. Schwab that had been expected following his address.
Mr. Trump received a polite but not enthusiastic reception in the hall.
Even as Mr. Trump faces impeachment, his trip to Davos offers him an opportunity focus on his economic message. The U.S. economy has continued to notch solid growth and maintain a low unemployment rate, and the stock market has reached record highs in recent days. Mr. Trump signed a partial trade deal with China last week, easing global tensions over his use of tariffs.
Mr. Trump was billed as the keynote speaker for the annual business-themed confab in this Alpine ski town, but the main attraction was Swedish climate activist Greta Thunberg, 17, who has sparred with Mr. Trump on Twitter.
“Our house is still on fire. Your inaction is fueling the flames by the hour,” she told conference attendees Tuesday. “And we are telling you to act as if you loved your children above all else.”
In December, Mr. Trump insulted the teenager and Time magazine “Person of the Year” as “so ridiculous” and suggested that she “work on her anger management problem.”
Greta was quick to respond, updating her Twitter biography to describe herself as “a teenager working on her anger management problem.”
Mr. Trump had not yet arrived in Davos when Greta gave her first address Tuesday morning, saying that “without treating this as a real crisis, then we cannot solve it.”