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| 56th World Economic Forum | |
|---|---|
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| Dates | 19–23 January 2026 |
| City | Davos, Switzerland |
The56th World Economic Forum, also known asDavos 2026, is the annual meeting of theWorld Economic Forum, held inDavos, Switzerland, from 19 to 23 January 2026.
Occurring at a time of heightened tensions between the United States and its NATO allies, including Canada, Greenland, and Europe, especially over theGreenland crisis, there were major speeches by world leaders includingMark Carney,Ursula von der Leyen andDonald Trump.
Other events at the forum included the inaugural meeting of theBoard of Peace.[1]
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TheWorld Economic Forum is an international think tank based inSwitzerland. It hosts an annual conference inDavos, a Swiss Alpine resort town, with a significant number of government leaders from around the world as well as prominent businessmen and celebrities often in attendance. The 56th annual meeting was held in late January 2026. The 56th World Economic Forum was held at a time of significant global tensions, particularly surrounding the foreign policies of United States presidentDonald Trump, such as theGreenland crisis.[4]
Iranian Foreign MinisterAbbas Araghchi's invitation to the World Economic Forum in Davos was revoked in response to the government'sviolent crackdown ondomestic protests. Araghchi blamed Israel and the U.S. for the cancellation, claiming the decision was based on "lies and political pressure" from the "Israeli regime and its backers".[5]
Israeli Prime MinisterBenjamin Netanyahu skipped the Davos summit due to fears of arrest. Switzerland, as a signatory to theRome Statute, is legally obliged to enforce theInternational Criminal Court (ICC) warrants issued in November 2024 against Netanyahu and former Defense MinisterYoav Gallant. Israeli PresidentIsaac Herzog attended the forum in Netanyahu's place, criticizing the warrants as "politically motivated" and describing them as a "reward for terror." He argued it is "shameful" and "unacceptable" that international legal actions are preventing senior Israeli officials from attending global summits.[6]
Spanish Prime MinisterPedro Sánchez canceled his planned trip to Davos to visit the site of a fataltrain collision in Adamuz, southern Spain, which resulted in over 40 fatalities.[7]
The five themes for the conference in 2026 were:[8]
Special addresses by ten major leaders were the featured sessions on the three main days of the conference. In the order of running, the speakers were:[8]
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Carney's speech emphasized the importance ofmiddle powers in the face of a "rupture in world order" and stated that "geopolitics is submitted to no limits". Carney noted a change from the perception of a "rules-based international order" to a geopolitical situation where "great powers have begun using economic integration as weapons, tariffs as leverage, financial infrastructure as coercion, [and] supply chains as vulnerabilities to be exploited." Carney called for middle powers to unite against this perceived geopolitical shift and stated that such powers have "most to gain from genuine cooperation".[9]
Carney's speech, while not directly mentioning Trump, has been interpreted as a response to Trump'sclaims over Greenland and amplified fears overproposals made by Trump to annex Canada,[10] with the Canadian government limiting travel to and imports from America and prioritizing Canadian-made goods due to such threats.[11]
Ukrainian President Zelenskyy voiced strong support for theanti-government protests in Iran. He criticized the international community for remaining passive as theprotests were suppressed, describing the crackdown as "drowned in blood." Zelenskyy warned that if theIranian regime survives this crackdown, it sends a "clear signal to every bully" that they can stay in power by killing enough people.[12]
During his speech at the forum on 20 January 2026, French President Emmanuel Macron emphasized the importance of increasingChineseforeign direct investment (FDI) in key European sectors to promote economic growth and facilitate technology transfer. He urgedChina to move beyond simply exporting products to Europe and instead focus on local manufacturing and physical presence on the continent.[13]
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President of the United StatesDonald Trump addressed the forum on 21 January. Trump began his speech by describing the forum as "a who's who," before saying that he had brought "truly phenomenal news from America."[14] He claimed that the US was "in the midst of the fastest and most dramatic economic turnaround in our country's history... Just over one year ago, under the radical left Democrats, we were a dead country. Now we are the hottest country anywhere in the world."[14] He continued by saying that the United States was "the economic engine on the planet... You all follow us down and you follow us up."[14]
Trump then said that he would describe how he had done this so that other world leaders could follow his example.[14] He stated that Western governments had followed a consensus on achieving economic growth through government spending, mass immigration, and foreign imports, a consensus that was having the effect that "many parts of our world are being destroyed before our very eyes, and the leaders don't even understand what's happening. And the ones that do understand aren't doing anything about it."[14] He then listed a wide range of measures his government was taking, including reducing the size of the civil service, cutting taxes domestically while imposing tariffs on imports, slashing government funding and regulations, making international trade agreements, ramping up domestic oil and gas production, building new nuclear power plants, and the2026 United States intervention in Venezuela. He repeatedly attackedJoe Biden and the European left, while also warning against pursuing environment-friendly policies, calling them "perhaps the greatest hoax in history."[14]
Trump subsequently stated that "we believe deeply in the bonds we share with Europe as a civilization," pointing towards his own European ancestry, and repeated his claim that Europeans were "destroying themselves, these beautiful, beautiful places."[14] He then used the example of Greenland to illustrate his point, saying that only the United States could defend Greenland. He stated that World War II showed this, saying that Denmark needed the United States to save them from theGerman occupation and that "without us, right now you'd all be speaking German and a little Japanese perhaps. After the war, we gave Greenland back to Denmark. How stupid were we to do that? But we did it. But we gave it back. But how ungrateful are they now?"[14] Trump then returned to the topic of the intervention in Venezuela to further show that only the United States could defend Greenland, before saying that Greenland was part of North America and was therefore "our territory. It is therefore a core national security interest of the United States of America. And in fact, it's beenour policy for hundreds of years to prevent outside threats from entering our hemisphere."[14] He continued by saying that "the United States is treated very unfairly byNATO," claiming that the2022 Russian invasion of Ukraine would not have happened if the2020 American presidential election had not been "rigged."[14] He then returned to the topic of Greenland and pledged not to use force to takeover the island, saying that "all the United States is asking for is a place called Greenland."[14]
Trump continued his speech by stating that, under his administration, the American military had become even more powerful and was "bringing back battleships."[14] He then returned to the topic of Greenland, saying that the United States was asking for ownership because "you need the ownership to defend it."[14] He subsequently referred to his proposedGolden Dome missile defence system before referring negatively to Carney's speech, saying that "Canada lives because of the United States. Remember that Mark, the next time you make your statements."[14] Trump then returned to the topic of Ukraine, saying that it was "a bloodbath over there" and that both Russian and Ukrainian presidentsVladimir Putin andVolodymyr Zelenskyy wanted to reach a peace agreement. He added that his diplomacy on Ukraine was helping Europe, but that, following comments the American ambassador made about taking over Iceland, "until the last few days, when I told them about Iceland, they loved me. They called me daddy right last time. Very smart man said he's our daddy. He's running it. I was like running it. I went from running it to being a terrible human being. But now what I'm asking for is a piece of ice, cold and poorly located that can play a vital role in world peace and world protection."[14]
Trump then briefly talked about American fighter jets, including the under-developmentBoeing F-47 and theUnited States strikes on Iranian nuclear sites, before returning to the topic of Greenland, saying that "we want a piece of ice for world protection, and they won't give it. We've never asked for anything else. And we could have kept that piece of land and we didn't sell. They have a choice. You can say yes, and we will be very appreciative. Or you can say no and we will remember."[14] He subsequently repeated his claims about the performance of the American economy under his leadership, while attacking Biden's economic performance. He then discussed pharmaceutical prices in the United States and the disparity in prices between the US and Europe, saying that "basically America was subsidizing every nation in the world because presidents allowed them to get away with it."[14] Following that, he discussed the housing market in the United States, pledging that "America will not become a nation of renters" and that he would issue an executive order "banning large institutional investors from buying single family homes."[14] He then briefly discussed cryptocurrencies, pledging to make the United States "the crypto capital of the world," and then discussedChair of the Federal ReserveJerome Powell, calling him "terrible" and accusing him of disloyalty.[14] After that, he discussed placing tariffs on Swiss watches, before talking again about the performance of the American economy under his administration, and then aboutOperation Metro Surge and the2025–2026 domestic military deployments in the United States, saying that "ICE gets beat up by stupid people from leadership in Minnesota. We actually are helping Minnesota so much, but they don't appreciate it. Most places do."[14] He subsequently discussed Somalians, including both the2020s Minnesota fraud scandals, representativeIlhan Omar, andpiracy off the coast of Somalia, saying that Somalians "turned out to be higher IQ than we thought. I always say these are low IQ people. How do they go into Minnesota and steal all that money?"[14]
Trump concluded his speech by saying that "many of you in this room are true pioneers... the future is unlimited. And to a large part, because of you. And we have to protect you, and we have to cherish you," adding that "the United States is back bigger, stronger, better than ever before."[14]
Adam Cancryn and Kevin Liptak ofCNN wrote that, although the hall for Trump's speech was significantly packed, the audience "grew more restless and uncomfortable as the speech wound on, sitting largely in silence and offering only tepid applause at the end of the marathon remarks."[15]
Hundreds ofKurds organized protests in Davos to raise international awareness of theongoing military offensive carried out by theSyrian transitional government againstKurdish-controlled regions innortheastern Syria.[16]
Governor of CaliforniaGavin Newsom (who was in attendance and mentioned by Trump by name) described Trump's speech as "bad," additionally claiming that pressure from Trump's administration had led to a speaking appearance he had been scheduled to make at Davos being cancelled.[17]
Treasurer of AustraliaJim Chalmers described Carney's speech as "stunning," saying that it was "widely shared and discussed" among the Australian government.[18] Former Australian Prime MinisterMalcolm Turnbull also applauded Carney's speech, saying that "if you are integrated with the United States economically or you are dependent on the United States, Trump will use that as a vulnerability and exploit it."[18]
Leader of the right-wingReform UK Nigel Farage stated that he agreed with Trump that the world would be a better place if the United States took over Greenland, but that the right of Greenlanders to self-determination should be respected.[19]
Former high-ranking Canadian diplomatJeremy Kinsman stated that Carney's speech was "the most consequential speech on global affairs I have ever heard from a Canadian PM."[20] Senator and former diplomatPeter Boehm stated that the speech was the most important foreign policy speech by a Canadian politician since Secretary of State for External AffairsLouis St. Laurent 1947 speech defining Canada's post-World War II foreign policy.[21] Stewart Prest of theUniversity of British Columbia wrote that Carney's speech was "a remarkable departure from Canada's usual approach to its relationship its neighbour to the south," adding that "the speech was remarkably blunt in its rebuke of America's foreign policy."[22]
The speeches by Carney and Trump were widely compared in the media.Ravi Agrawal ofForeign Policy wrote that the conference "has turned out to be a tale of two speeches," contrasting Trump's "rambling and bullying of his country's closest allies" with Carney's "eloquent exposition of the dangers of a world where might makes right."[23] Mark Shanahan of theUniversity of Surrey wrote that "the style and tone" of the two speechs "could not have been more different," saying that "one leader donned the cloak of statesmanship at Davos this week. It wasn't Donald Trump."[24]
According to Eli Stokols and Diana Nerozzi ofPolitico Europe, although Trump's statement that he would not invade Greenland was met with relief, his speech "did little to reverse a deepening sentiment among NATO leaders and other longtime allies that they can no longer consider the United States — for 80 years the linchpin of the transatlantic alliance — a reliable ally."[25]