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Trump speaks to economic forum as he enacts agenda and Cabinet confirmations continue
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Hear what Trump said about possibly having Biden investigated
03:03 – Source: CNN
• Trump outlines economic plans: President Donald Trump delivered virtual remarks to the World Economic Forum meeting in Davos this morning, where he slammed his predecessor’s policies and said his presidency began a “revolution of common sense” as he warned global business leaders to make their products in the US or face tariffs. He also said he wants OPEC and Saudi Arabia to cut the cost of oil to help end the war in Ukraine.
• Immigration agenda: Trump’s crackdown on immigration is in full force. The acting secretary of defense directed 1,500 ground personnel to the southern border. A new Justice Department memo outlines plans to challenge sanctuary city laws by threatening to prosecute state and local officials who resist. The first hearing to challenge Trump’s executive order on birthright citizenship is scheduled for this afternoon in Seattle.
• Cabinet confirmations: The Senate has scheduled a key procedural vote to advance the nomination of Pete Hegseth as defense secretary for this afternoon. This comes as the chamber’s committees continue to approve other Cabinet nominations on Capitol Hill. Meanwhile, the House voted Wednesday to pass a GOP-led bill to require detention of undocumented migrants charged with certain crimes, handing an early legislative win for Trump.
The Senate plans to vote this afternoon to move Pete Hegseth’s nomination to a final confirmation vote.
Before and during his confirmation process, Donald Trump’s pick for defense secretary has face allegations of assault and misconduct. Most recently, Hegseth’s former sister-in-law gave an affidavit to the Senate Armed Services Committee accusing him of being “abusive” toward his second ex-wife, according to a copy of the affidavit obtained by CNN.
GOP leaders are still confident that Hegseth’s nomination will be confirmed. Senate GOP Whip John Barrasso told CNN that his nomination is “on track.”
Here’s what some Republican senators are saying:
- Sen. Lisa Murkowski, a key Republican swing vote, said Thursday that she has concerns about Hegseth, and would not say how she’ll vote this afternoon on whether to advance his nomination. Murkowski said she feels like she’s gotten enough information to make her decision, but when asked what concerns she has, she said, “I will articulate those later and you will have a full readout.”
- Sen. Susan Collins of Maine, another Republican vote to watch, didn’t indicate whether she’d favor advancing Hegseth’s nomination. Collins said she does not feel pressure to support Hegseth, and that she is still reviewing the information she has between their conversation, his hearing, and his previous writings and podcast appearances. Additionally, she said she has reviewed the affidavit by Hegseth’s former sister-in-law.
- GOP Sen. Thom Tillis of North Carolina, however, said he does plan to advance the nominee to a confirmation vote. He said he will support Hegseth in a final vote unless “first-hand corroborated testimony” backs up allegations against the nominee.
This post has been updated with comments from Tillis.
The Senate Intelligence Committee has scheduled a confirmation hearing on Thursday, January 30 for Tulsi Gabbard, President Donald Trump’s controversial choice to lead the intelligence community.
Gabbard has faced scrutiny over her markedly anti-surveillance views as a member of Congress, a 2017 meeting with Syrian dictator Bashar al-Assad, and a series of public statements that some lawmakers have seen as embracing Russia’s perspective on the war against Ukraine.
Secretary of State Marco Rubio will travel to Central America for his first trip as top US diplomat.
Rubio is expected to depart late next week for Panama, Guatemala, El Salvador, Costa Rica and the Dominican Republic, State Department spokesperson Tammy Bruce said.
The trip comes as President Donald Trump has made stemming migration to the United States a top priority and has enacted a slew of directives, including ordering thousands more troops to the US southern border. Trump has also expressed interest in the US taking back control of the Panama Canal.
Bruce said it was important to Rubio that Central America be his inaugural trip as secretary of state, one that should send a signal to the US and the world of the administration’s priorities.
Tens of thousands of migrants from the three Northern Triangle countries that Rubio plans to visit — Guatemala, El Salvador and Honduras — attempt to travel into the US each year. However, according to Customs and Border Protection data, the number of border encounters with people from these three countries dropped in 2024.
Rubio is likely to discuss the Darién Gap, a treacherous route between Central and South America that has seen an uptick of migrants, in his meetings in Panama. Last year, the US and Panamanian governments signed an agreement aiming to curb the passage of undocumented migrants on this route.
Rubio is also expected to discuss economic and supply chain issues as another top priority of the trip. It is unclear whether he plans to raise the matter of control of the Panama Canal. On Wednesday, Panama’s President José Raúl Mulino said that everything that Trump has said about the canal is “false,” saying the country “is not a gift.”
Speaking to Bank of America CEO Brian Moynihan, Trump took a moment to publicly berate him and “Jamie” (presumably Jamie Dimon, head of JPMorgan Chase) for allegedly “de-banking” conservatives — allegations both banks have denied.
“You’ve done a fantastic job but I hope you start opening your bank to conservatives, because many conservatives complain that the banks are not allowing them to do business within the bank,” Trump said. “What you’re doing is wrong.”
The claim, which the banks have repeatedly and forcefully denied, rose to some prominence in conservative media last spring after more than a dozen state auditors and treasurers wrote an open letter to Moynihan, citing a few examples in which right-wing or religious organizations’ accounts were shut down. The bank had previously claimed that those instances were unrelated to any political or religious leanings.
A Bank of America spokesperson Bill Halldin reiterated its previous pushback against the claim, telling CNN the bank serves more than 70 million clients, including conservatives, and has “no political litmus test.”
In a statement to CNN, JPMorgan spokesperson Patricia Wexler said “we have never and would never close an account for political reasons, full stop.”
The allegations are part of a broader pushback by American conservatives against what they see as discrimination in the form of diversity, equity and inclusion programs, or DEI. Much of Trump’s reelection campaign centered on fomenting those grievances.
Shortly after taking office, the president ordered employees in any federal diversity, equity, inclusion and accessibility offices on paid administrative leave as “the agency takes steps to close/end all DEIA initiatives, offices and programs.”
House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries said he expects an avalanche of litigation to challenge the numerous executive orders from President Donald Trump.
Jeffries railed on his Republican colleagues for backing Trump’s pardons of January 6 prisoners, some of whom committed violent offenses against Capitol Police officers: “Shame on my House Republican colleagues. What happened to backing the blue?”
Jeffries also told reporters it is a “non-starter” to attach California wildfire aid to a potential debt ceiling hike, as Republicans are looking for ways to lift the debt limit without the full support to do so in their narrow majority.
In response to President Donald Trump saying at the Davos forum that he is working with the Democrats on tax cuts, Jeffries said, “I’ve not had any communication with the president or the incoming administration on the issue.”
Jeffries also said Republicans haven’t reached out at all to discuss the next government funding deadline in March, signaling that the process has not been handled in a bipartisan basis so far.
“It’s not hard to find me. They know where I’m at. They know my number. I haven’t received a single call about a single one of these issues.”
Mexican President Claudia Sheinbaum said that Mexico is in no immediate rush to invite US President Donald Trump for a state visit after he took office on Monday.
Responding to a question at a press briefing Thursday, Sheinbaum said that inviting Trump for a state visit is normal, however she said, “we do not need to get ahead of ourselves.”
Remember: The Trump administration has pledged to slap neighboring Mexico and Canada with 25% tariffs on February 1. Trump has also shut down the US-Mexico border, leaving many Mexicans in limbo, and promised the mass deportation of undocumented migrants.
President Donald Trump on Thursday repeated exaggerated and false claims about the United States’ trade deficits with its biggest trading partners.
Trump repeated a claim made earlier this month that the US has a “tremendous deficit” with Canada, which he put in the range of $200 billion to $250 billion. He didn’t specify what constituted the amount, but used the figure in the context of trading for Canadian items – such as cars and lumber – which he claims the US does not need.
About 30% of the lumber consumed in the US is imported from Canada, and that specific type of lumber factors heavily in the US home building industry.
In 2023, the US had a goods and services trade deficit with Canada of $40.6 billion, according to Commerce Department data.
A Trump-Vance transition spokesperson told CNN last week that the lion’s share of that $200 billion was attributed to classified US defense spending of which Canada directly benefits.
Trump also criticized the trade deficits with Mexico and China. However, economists caution that exaggerating or classifying trade deficits as losses or subsidies isn’t a fair representation of what has become a crucial mechanism for the US economy.
Brooke Rollins, President Donald Trump’s pick for agriculture secretary, is making her pitch to lawmakers during a confirmation hearing before the Senate Agriculture, Nutrition and Forestry Committee.
Asked how she would work with Trump and his administration to ensure they understand the effects of potential retaliatory tariffs on American farmers, Rollins — who served as White House Domestic Policy Council director during Trump’s first term — touted her knowledge of the processes for working across government agencies.
Rollins said Trump is aware of his longstanding support among the agricultural community and said he will play his role of “consummate dealmaker” to get them positive results.
On returning to office: Rollins said she believes US Department of Agriculture employees being in-person in an office “almost every single time” will be the most effective way for the agency to operate.
Her comments come after Trump issued a memorandum this week to the heads of federal departments and agencies, essentially directing them to get their employees back to the office full-time.
This post has been updated with additional comments from Rollins’ hearing.
President Donald Trump said he wants a “fair relationship” with China over the next four years, adding that he wants a “level playing field.”
“All we want is fairness. We just want a level playing field. We don’t want to take advantage. We’ve been having massive deficits with China,” Trump said while virtually speaking to the World Economic Forum meeting.
He went on to attack his predecessor, Joe Biden, and accused the former president of letting the deficit to “get out of hand.”
Trump said he looks forward to “doing very well with China and getting along with China” during his presidency.
Earlier this week, Trump warned that even more tariffs could be coming as soon as next week: This time China was his target, as Trump threatened to unleash a wave of higher taxes on imports from America’s second-biggest trading partner.
In an Oval Office news conference that echoed similar off-the-cuff remarks on Monday, Trump said that he is considering a 10% across-the-board tariff on all Chinese goods starting as early as February 1.
President Donald Trump on Thursday said he plans to make emergency declarations to build energy plants to power artificial intelligence “almost immediately;” however, the development of new facilities take time — and often are subject to local, municipal and federal approvals.
Trump said that the energy facilities needed could come from a variety of sources, including coal, which he praised as a “good, clean” source that’s widely available in the United States. He added that these facilities would employ many people.
While Trump told World Economic Forum attendees that those projects would get “very rapid approvals,” new facilities are subject to local and state regulations and approvals in addition to the federal government.
Also, it just takes time.
A data center development project can be completed “soup to nuts in 18 to 30 months if it can draw from existing power sources. But new power generation projects can take a lot longer than that,” according to McKinsey.
President Donald Trump on Thursday repeated his desire to have all NATO member countries spend 5% of their GDP on their defense budgets while speaking virtually at the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland, on Thursday.
“As we restore common sense in America, we’re moving quickly to bring back strength and peace and stability abroad,” Trump said while speaking from the White House on Thursday.
“It was only at 2% and most nations didn’t pay until I came along,” the president added. “I insisted that they pay, and they did, because the United States was really paying the difference at that time.”
Some context: While a majority of NATO members do not meet the alliance’s target of each member spending a minimum of 2% of gross domestic product on defense, the 2% target is a “guideline” that does not create bills, debts or legal obligations if it is not met. In fact, the guideline doesn’t require payments to NATO or the US at all.
Trump is not the first president to bemoan NATO spending.
President Donald Trump, who has promised to deliver American energy dominance, is directly calling on help from foreign oil producers to help lower energy prices.
Trump argued that cheap oil would help end the war in Ukraine, which Russia has financed in part with its vast amount of oil revenue.
“I’m also going to ask Saudi Arabia and OPEC to bring down the cost of oil, you got to bring it down, which frankly, I’m surprised they didn’t do before the election,” Trump said during his virtual remarks at Davos. “That didn’t show a lot of love by them not doing it. I was a little surprised.”
The price of oil is set by global markets, though it is influenced by the amount of oil produced by Saudi Arabia and other OPEC members. OPEC has been propping up prices by restraining production.
Of course, cheap oil prices leading up to the election could have driven down gasoline prices, helping Trump’s opponent, former Vice President Kamala Harris.
It’s noteworthy that Trump is directly asking for help from OPEC, a foreign cartel that competes directly with the US oil industry whose support helped elect him.
By contrast, Trump in the spring of 2020 urged OPEC to restrain production to stop the oil crash slamming the US oil industry.
“If the price came down, the Russia-Ukraine war would end immediately,” Trump said Thursday. “Right now, the price is high enough that that war will continue…They’re very responsible, actually, to a certain extent, for what’s taking place.”
Trump seemed to be suggesting that a sharp selloff in oil prices would hurt the Russian economy to the point that Moscow agrees to end the war in Ukraine.
President Donald Trump on Thursday falsely claimed that the recent bout of high inflation was the worst in the history in the United States.
Trump, when virtually addressing attendees of the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland, also laid the blame for the fast-rising prices on actions taken by former President Joe Biden’s administration.
Inflation’s rapid ascent in the United States and in countries across the globe, which began in early 2021, was the result of a confluence of factors, including effects from the Covid-19 pandemic such as snarled supply chains and geopolitical fallout (specifically Russia’s invasion of Ukraine) that triggered food and energy price shocks. Heightened consumer demand boosted in part by fiscal stimulus from both the Trump and Biden administrations also led to higher prices, as did the post-pandemic imbalance in the labor market.
Also, Trump falsely repeated his claim that the US experienced “record inflation” during the Biden administration.
Trump could fairly say the US inflation rate hit a 40-year high in June 2022, when it was 9.1%, but that was not close to the all-time record of 23.7%, set in 1920. (And the rate has since plummeted. The most recent available inflation rate at the time Trump spoke here was 2.9% in December.)
He also claimed that inflation remains 50% higher than its “historic target.” If he’s referring to the Personal Consumption Expenditures price index, the Federal Reserve’s preferred gauge, it’s inaccurate. As of November, the PCE price index rose 2.4% annually. The Fed’s target is 2%.
President Donald Trump on Thursday said peace efforts between Russia and Ukraine are “hopefully” underway while speaking virtually at the World Economic Forum.
“It’s so important to get that done,” the president added. “That is an absolute killing field. Millions of soldiers are being killed.”
Some context: And as the war edges into its fourth year, Western officials assess Russia’s incremental gains along the frontline add as many as 1,500 deaths and injuries a day, and the toll nears 700,000 casualties for the war, according to the UK defense ministry. And US officials estimated about a year ago that some 70,000 Ukrainian soldiers had been killed and nearly twice that number wounded.
Trump’s remarks came in spite of the fact that he vowed to end the war in the first day of his administration.
Trump missed that deadline, though CNN previously reported that the president is trying to set up a call with Russian President Vladimir Putin to discuss a potential in-person meeting.
He repeated his desire to meet the Russia president while speaking Thursday: “I really would like to be able to meet with President Putin soon to get that war ended.”
Trump however was critical of Putin while speaking with reporters in the Oval Office on Monday, saying the Russian leader is “not doing so well.” Those remarks are a departure from the typically complimentary rhetoric Trump has for the Russian strongman.
Trump added he believes Ukraine “is ready to make a deal.”
The president said he would seek the assistance of Chinese President Xi Jinping to secure peace in Ukraine.
When laying out his economic agenda, President Donald Trump said “with oil prices going down, I’ll demand that interest rates drop immediately” in his speech at the World Economic Forum Annual Meeting in Davos, Switzerland.
However, borrowing costs are broadly determined by market forces, which are influenced by a range of factors, including in large part the anticipated decisions of central banks.
For example, long-term interest rates in the United States, such as mortgage rates, are strongly influenced by the yields on US Treasuries. Yields are swayed by economic trends and expectations around Federal Reserve policy decisions.
The Fed, which is considered an independent entity, is set to announce its latest interest rate decision next week, expected to be a pause after the central bank cut rates three times in a row last year. Trump has frequently criticized the Fed for its decisions, taking aim at Fed Chair Jerome Powell as early as 2018.
The Fed’s decisions are dependent on what economic figures show, striving for the central bank’s dual mandate of maximum employment and stable prices.
President Donald Trump reiterated his efforts to backtrack on clean energy and end federal support for electric vehicles. The US “withdrew from the one-sided Paris Climate Accord and ended the insane and costly electric vehicle mandate,” Trump told Davos attendees. “We’re going to let people buy the car they want to buy.”
To be clear: There is no “mandate” around EVs in the United States, and consumers have for years demanded better fuel efficiency in the form of hybrids and EVs.
Trump signed an executive order this week that seeks to eliminate a $7,500 tax credit for buyers of EVs that was passed by Congress and signed into law in 2022, along with federal support for vehicle-charging stations and low-interest loans for traditional automakers building new plants to build EVs and the batteries they need.
President Donald Trump’s message to world business leaders is to manufacture their products in the United States to receive among the “lowest taxes of any nation on Earth.”
Some context: Trump said Tuesday that he is considering a 10% across-the-board tariff on all Chinese goods starting as early as February 1. On Monday, Trump threatened 25% tariffs on Mexico and Canada.
Wall Street is generally opposed to tariffs, because American importers pay the tariffs at the ports, passing those costs along to businesses and consumers. They can be inflationary — a particularly worrying notion considering America is still feeling the effects of the inflation crisis from the past few years. Various factions of Trump’s economic team have been working to decide the best way to roll out tariffs.
CNN’s David Goldman contributed reporting to this post.
President Donald Trump on Thursday slammed the policies of his predecessor, bragged about his election victory and declared that a “revolution of common sense” has begun with his inauguration this week.
Speaking virtually at the World Economic Forum in Switzerland, Trump said it has “been a truly historic week in the United States.”
Trump, speaking virtually from the White House, told the crowd in Davos on Thursday:
Trump then repeated familiar criticisms of former President Joe Biden’s policies, slamming what he described as the “economic chaos caused by the failed policies of the last administration.”
President Donald Trump is delivering virtual remarks to the World Economic Forum Annual Meeting 2025 in Davos, Switzerland.
The address comes as Trump threatens to impose higher tariffs on a number of countries and as he aims to move his economic and foreign policy agenda forward.
Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer slammed Russell Vought, President Donald Trump’s nominee to lead the Office of Management and Budget, as the “godfather of the ultra-right,” pointing to his work on Project 2025.
The top Democrat said that during his meeting with Vought yesterday, the nominee did not name “a single thing” he rejects from Project 2025.
Vought was one of the key authors of Project 2025 — the conservative blueprint that Trump tried to distance himself from during the campaign.
“He’s at the levers of power to implement these dangerous, dangerous proposals. As you know, the OMB director holds the most critical positions in the federal government,” Schumer said.
Democratic Sen. Tim Kaine argued that Vought seemed to display an “unusual degree of gleeful hatred for the federal workforce.” As a senator from Virginia, that includes many of his constituents who work in DC.
Schumer also refused to “rush through” confirmations for other nominees, despite Senate Majority Leader John Thune’s push to speed up the processes.