Trump Plans to Attend World Economic Forum in Davos Next Month
Donald Trump is planning to attend next year’s World Economic Forum in Davos, according to four administration officials.
(Bloomberg) -- President Donald Trump is planning to attend next year’s World Economic Forum in Davos, according to four administration officials, while the U.K.’s Boris Johnson decided to skip the event.
The Jan. 21-24 event in Switzerland will be an opportunity for Trump to tout his economic record ahead of the 2020 election, and it’s expected to be among few international trips as he focuses on campaigning.
Trump is seeking to focus voters’ attention on job creation and booming stock markets even as House Democrats on Wednesday are planning a vote on two articles of impeachment against the president.
A White House spokesman declined to comment on Trump’s travel schedule.
Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin plans to attend the Davos meeting with Trump, according to a person familiar with the matter.
A U.K. official said earlier Tuesday that Johnson and his ministers won’t attend. The prime minister won an 80-seat majority in last week’s election by promising to deliver on the priorities of ordinary British people.
Johnson is now branding his administration as “the people’s government,” an image that might be undermined by the sight of him or his team brushing shoulders with the global elite at a Swiss ski resort.
Trump skipped the Davos meeting early this year during a partial U.S. government shutdown. That announcement came hours after Trump announced he was denying House Speaker Nancy Pelosi a government plane to visit U.S. troops in Afghanistan.
In 2018, the president used the summit to encourage international executives to increase investment in the U.S. and touted his tax cut package, while European leaders largely spoke about the need for global trade, in what was interpreted as criticism of Trump’s tariff program.
--With assistance from Saleha Mohsin and Robert Hutton.
To contact the reporters on this story: Jennifer Jacobs in Washington at jjacobs68@bloomberg.net;Justin Sink in Washington at jsink1@bloomberg.net
To contact the editors responsible for this story: Alex Wayne at awayne3@bloomberg.net, Justin Blum, Joshua Gallu
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