The 2020 Davos economic conference will be a little more important to watch this year (as it was in 2017) due to the completed U.S. Trade Agreements (S Korea, Japan, Mexico, Canada, and China) and the predicted focus for the Trump administration to pivot from Asia to the EU and U.K. for the next critical phase of the ‘America-First’ global trade reset.

As a result of the recent U.K. election, pending Brexit, a favorable $7.5 billion WTO ruling and USTR Lighthizer’s new $2.4 billion EU targeted tariff program, the administration has significant advantages going into a trade discussion with the EU in 2020.
Team USA has the world’s strongest economy, the largest market, legally bolstered tariff authority and a quiver full of powerful economic arrows.
Meanwhile Team EU has: (1) the UK leaving; (2) severe drops in German industrial manufacturing; (3) a shrinking French economy; (4) yellow-vests in the streets; and (5) demands for greater economic autonomy from many key member states.
Overlay Germany, France and Italy large economy challenges such as: their promise to meet NATO obligations – and their attachment to the strangling Paris Climate Treaty, and the EU’s collective economic position is precarious at best.

WHITE HOUSE – Today, President Donald J. Trump announced the Presidential Delegation that will attend the World Economic Forum in Davos-Klosters, Switzerland, from January 20 to January 24, 2020.

The Honorable Steven Mnuchin, Secretary of the Treasury, will lead the delegation.

Members of the Presidential Delegation:

(more…)

The New York Times is quick to the typeset to explain how Brussels is desperately offended because President Trump and Secretary Pompeo have lowered the importance of the EU.   Officials from the European Union are apoplectic that U.S. officials have downgraded their status amid the official registry of diplomatic protocols.

BRUSSELS — The Trump administration downgraded the diplomatic status of the European Union’s delegation to the United States last year without making a formal announcement or informing the bloc about the change, a European official said on Tuesday.

(more…)

Earlier today President Trump delivered a speech at the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland. (Video and Transcript below)

[Transcript] 2:02 P.M. – PRESIDENT TRUMP: Thank you, Klaus, very much. It’s a privilege to be here at this forum where leaders in business, science, art, diplomacy, and world affairs have gathered for many, many years to discuss how we can advance prosperity, security, and peace.
I’m here today to represent the interests of the American people and to affirm America’s friendship and partnership in building a better world.
Like all nations represented at this great forum, America hopes for a future in which everyone can prosper, and every child can grow up free from violence, poverty, and fear.
(more…)

The entire economic world is unilaterally focused on President Trump and the U.S. delegation in Davos, Switzerland at the World Economic Forum. CTH has stated for several years that MAGAnomics, the U.S. economic outlook, would be the primary generational change evident from a successful election of Donald Trump. What’s happening at Davos is simply visible confirmation therein.

Boil all international and geopolitical issues down to their common denominator and everything, E.V.E.R.Y.T.H.I.N.G., every issue, every discussion, every person, every policy, every position, everything -all of it- circles around economics. Nothing matters except the underlying economics of every single issue. Power or weakness, famine or war, peace or conflict, master or servant, culture or crisis, growth or collapse, the entirety of everything -including the foundation of freedom- centers around the economics.
There are trillions at stake.
Yesterday we saw U.S. Commerce Secretary Wilbur Ross commanding around 80% of panelist discussion, and factually 100% of all questions and attention from the Davos audience. Every single question was for Wilburine.  Team U.S.A. is the epicenter of the economic universe and Secretary Ross was well prepared for the severity of attention.
Today, the same theme continues as Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin engages with a similar panel discussion.

(more…)

For the first time since announcing the intent to move the U.S. Embassy to Jerusalem, President Trump and his friend Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu meet on the sidelines of the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland.
The global dynamic of those who align with genuine freedom, led by President Trump, and those who stand against freedom is very visible in these summits.  There’s a stunning amount of geopolitical leverage carried by those who have a true-North compass heading.

.
President Trump doesn’t hold back in speaking directly, genuinely and with a brutal honesty all parties can appreciate. Even those who are adverse to the U.S. interests respect hearing straight talk.  President Trump tells the Palestinian Authority directly any U.S. financial assistance will stop if they refuse to enter peace talks.
(more…)

U.S. President Trump and U.K. Prime Minister Theresa May hold a bilateral meeting on the sidelines of the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland.
Against the backdrop of increasing discoveries surrounding the U.K. involvement in undermining the candidacy of Donald Trump; and against the left-wing U.K. political forces consistently highlighting criticism of President Trump; the reality is the U.K. is now in a position of economic vulnerability and needs favorable financial outcomes from President Trump.
As such, Prime Minister May is in a tenuous position and hoping the U.S. President will be magnanimous in his forgiveness of the past two years of scheming, ankle-biting and very public criticism. The scale of President Trump’s leverage over Prime Minister May is very visible in their dialogue and body language.

.
Right now the U.K. needs American economic help and POTUS Trump. Almost nothing has worked in their economic benefit since they made the conscious decision to take a position of adversarialism. If the U.K. doesn’t knock off the nonsense President Trump will stand aside and watch them suffer. Theresa May knows this is her reality.
T-Rex is enjoying the art of the deal, having flashbacks to corporate life, remembering the power of holding all the leverage while witnessing an apex predator circling his prey. Cohn and McMaster well understand the play…
(more…)