On Monday, the annual World Economic Forum meeting in Davos, Switzerland, began. The event is a meeting of some of the world’s most powerful people — and one that often attracts protests.
Among the buzziest guests are the heads of Microsoft and Nvidia, the chancellor of Germany, and, after a six-year in-person absence, President Donald Trump will be making his return to the forum.
For a look at what we can expect, “Marketplace Morning Report” host David Brancaccio spoke to Henry Curr, an economics editor for The Economist magazine, who is attending Davos. The following is an edited transcript of their conversation.
David Brancaccio: The folks gathering in Davos, I think, have something to talk about this year, right? I mean, since they gathered a year ago, somebody drove a bulldozer through their world trading system and, I think, globalization as they knew it.
Henry Curr: Yeah, that’s absolutely right. Of course, Davos last year coincided with the start of the Trump administration, but it was still a bit unclear what the return of Donald Trump to the White House really meant for the world, and whether it would be something that looked more like the first Trump term — when a lot changed — but nothing like as radically as it has over the past year, with respect, as you say, to the trading order, to the geopolitical order and, to an extent, to the domestic order in the U.S. as well.
Brancaccio: Henry, what do you think? You’ve been before. I mean, does work get done at that ski resort? And if you think so, how does that work get done? I mean, it’s not just speeches from podiums.
Curr: The real value of the Conference of the World Economic Forum is the amazing list of attendees. Really, what this is is one giant networking event, the best in the world and so, yes, I think, I think real work gets done there — but it’s not what you’ll see on the stage, if you’re in the conference room.
Brancaccio: Among the dignitaries coming, for the first time in six years, will be President Trump, and he will speak. I would guess that the President sees his speech as the keynote of the whole gathering. I mean, is it the big ticket?
Curr: Yes, I think that’s I think that’s completely fair. I think an interesting question is whether the president will be able to resist breaking news somehow on Greenland, which is, of course, what everybody in Europe is most interested in hearing about. People want to hear what he has to say, given the extent of change that’s going on. Also, of course — don’t forget — we’re still waiting for the Supreme Court ruling on tariffs, which could at any moment upend again the global trading system and the Trump administration’s economic policy.
Brancaccio: You know, I was looking at the overall theme for this year. At first blush, it seemed bland in the extreme. I think it’s “A Spirit of Dialogue.” But then, when you think about it, when you step back a little bit in the polarized politics we see, especially in the U.S., even just civil dialogue may be an edgy topic.
Curr: Yes, definitely. And you know, because the main appeal of this conference is the attendees, those official topics are always pretty bland. The theme of the conference really ends up, “what’s going on in the world.” At this time last year, it was the incredible breakthrough in AI in China with the release of the DeepSeek model. Those themes respond in a loose way to what’s going on politically, but they’re never the dominant takeaway from Davos.