Trump to remotely address business, political leaders at Davos forum, topics unclear

Washington: US President Donald Trump will speak remotely at the World Economic Forum on Wednesday in Davos, Switzerland, delivering his first major speech to global business and political leaders.

Trump is due to give a speech and engage in a dialogue at 11 am Eastern time (16:00 GMT), according to the meeting schedule. It is not clear what he will discuss.

Trump's nationalist instincts have been on full display since he took office on Monday.

The newly inaugurated president has moved quickly to crack down on immigration, expand domestic energy production, and has threatened to impose steep tariffs on the European Union, China, Mexico and Canada.

Trump has also withdrawn the United States from the World Health Organization and the Paris climate agreement. He says he will rename the Gulf of Mexico as the Gulf of America, though other countries may not adopt the new name. He has also threatened to take back the Panama Canal from Panama.

He has also pardoned more than 1,500 supporters who attacked the US Capitol on January 6, 2021 in an unsuccessful effort to overturn his 2020 election loss, drawing outrage from lawmakers and police whose lives were at put at risk.

Trump is moving to dismantle diversity programs within the US government and is pressuring the private sector to do so as well. That has left some in Davos searching for new words to describe workplace practices that they say are essential to their businesses.