Trump tells Davos he will demand lower interest rates, oil prices By Reuters

By Echo Wang, Marwa Rashad, and Trevor Honeycutt

DAVOS, Switzerland (Reuters) – U.S. President Donald Trump demanded OPEC lower oil prices and lower interest rates for the world as he addressed world business and political leaders and warned them they would face tariffs if they produced their products elsewhere. except for the US.

“I’m going to demand that interest rates go down immediately. And they have to go down all over the world,” Trump said via video at the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland on Thursday. “I’m also going to ask Saudi Arabia and OPEC to cut oil value”.

The remarks, Trump’s first to world leaders during his four-day presidency, reinforced the message that his second term will eschew free-market norms inside and outside the United States.

Despite strong comments on the tariffs he wants to impose, he did not provide details at a time when markets are reeling from his plans.

Oil prices turned negative after Trump spoke, while the euro fell and the U.S. dollar traded between gains and losses against a basket of currencies.

COMMENTS AND CRITICISM

Trump spoke to about 3,000 Davos attendees, who cheered when Trump’s face appeared on the big screen. The president, a businessman whose first elected office was the White House, outlined the rapid changes he has made since his inauguration Monday that have changed the US government’s policies on diversity, climate change and immigration.

Later, speaking to conference attendees, including Bank of America CEO Brian Moynihan and Blackstone Group (NYSE: ) CEO Stephen Schwartzman, the US president’s remarks veered between compliments and criticism.

At one point, Trump accused Moynihan and JPMorgan Chase (NYSE: ) of not providing banking services to conservatives without offering any evidence or specifics of wrongdoing.

Moynihan dismissed the accusation, instead complimenting Trump on hosting the 2026 World Cup.

Trump’s speech was an unusual moment that allowed several business leaders to publicly question the US president on issues that affect their businesses or, in some cases, specific investments, projects and interests.

Some of his harshest criticism was reserved for traditional US allies Canada and the European Union, which he again threatened with new tariffs while criticizing them for allowing trade surpluses with the United States.

“One thing we will demand is respect from other nations. We have a huge deficit with Canada,” he said.

He lashed out at his predecessor, Joe Biden, and the policies that have dominated Davos for years, from climate change to diversity. Former US Secretary of State John Kerry, who served under Biden, visibly cheered as he listened.

Some Davos attendees later complimented her direct style, while others mildly disagreed with her words.

“It’s not particularly strange that you want to promote growth in your own country,” Norwegian Foreign Minister Espen Bart Eid told Reuters after Trump’s speech. “But of course we believe we’re better off in a free trade world , where we openly exchange goods and services.”

NUCLEAR WEAPONS AND PUTIN

Trump has promised to reduce inflation with a mix of tariffs, deregulation and tax cuts, along with his crackdown on illegal immigration and his commitment to make the US a hub for artificial intelligence, cryptocurrencies and fossil fuels.

“The United States has the most oil and gas of any country on earth, and we are going to use it,” Trump said.

He has said he is seeking talks with Russian President Vladimir Putin about the war in Ukraine and wants Russia and China to work on reducing nuclear weapons.

Trump also repeated a series of familiar falsehoods, that the US had the cleanest air and water during his first term, and that there was a “Green New Deal” in the US that he rescinded.

Since taking office, Trump has pulled the U.S. out of the World Health Organization and the Paris climate accord. He says he will rename the Gulf of Mexico the Gulf of America. He has also threatened to take back the Panama Canal.

He has moved quickly to crack down on immigration, expand domestic energy production and threatened to impose heavy tariffs on the European Union, China, Mexico and Canada.

He also pardoned more than 1,500 supporters who stormed the US Capitol on January 6, 2021, in a failed bid to defeat him in the 2020 election, angering lawmakers and police whose lives were at stake.

Trump is trying to dismantle diversity programs within the U.S. government and is pressuring the private sector to do the same, prompting some at Davos to search for new words to describe workplace practices they believe are important to their businesses.