US President Donald Trump gestures during the 56th annual World Economic Forum [Jonathan Ernst\/Reuters]<\/figcaption><\/figure>\nTariffs and the trade deficit<\/h2>\n Defending his prolific use of tariffs and other protectionist trade policies, Trump credited the measures with chipping away at the US\u2019s trade deficit and boosting domestic production.<\/p>\n
\u201cWith tariffs, we\u2019ve radically reduced our ballooning trade deficit, which was the largest in world history. We were losing more than $1 trillion every single year, and it was just wasted. It was going to waste,\u201d Trump said.<\/p>\n
\u201cBut in one year, I slashed our monthly trade deficit by a staggering 77 percent. And all of this with no inflation, something everyone said could not be done,\u201d he added.<\/p>\n
Trump also pointed to what he described as gains in exports, manufacturing and industrial capacity as evidence of the policy\u2019s success.<\/p>\n
\u201cDuring the process, we\u2019ve made historic trade deals with partners covering 40 percent of all US trade, some of the greatest companies and countries in the world. We have countries as our partners, too. The European nations, Japan, South Korea, they\u2019re our partners,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n
Trump on Venezuela: \u2018Going to do fantastically well\u2019<\/h2>\n Speaking about Venezuela\u2019s economy and oil sector, Trump said the country had suffered a sharp decline because of past policies under socialist leaders like Nicolas Maduro and the late Hugo Chavez.<\/p>\n
But he forecast that the South American country is now poised for a rapid turnaround, driven in part by cooperation with the US and international energy companies.<\/p>\n
Trump has taken an active interest in Venezuela\u2019s governance since a January 3 military operation to abduct Maduro and transport him to the US to face criminal charges. He has since confirmed that the US has extracted 50 million barrels of oil from Venezuela following Maduro\u2019s ouster.<\/p>\n
\u201cVenezuela has been an amazing place for so many years, but then they went bad with their policies,\u201d Trump said.<\/p>\n
\u201cTwenty years ago, it was a great country, and now it\u2019s got problems. But we\u2019re helping them. And those 50 million barrels, we\u2019re going to be splitting up with them, and they\u2019ll be making more money than they\u2019ve made in a long time.\u201d<\/p>\n
Trump proceeded to praise the interim government of President Delcy Rodriguez, Maduro\u2019s former vice president, for cooperating with his ambitions in Venezuela.<\/p>\n
\u201cVenezuela is going to do fantastically well,\u201d Trump said.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe appreciate all of the cooperation we\u2019ve been given. We\u2019ve been given great cooperation. Once the attack ended, the attack ended, and they said, \u2018Let\u2019s make a deal.\u2019 More people should do that.\u201d<\/p>\n
He went on to predict a dramatic economic recovery for the oil-rich nation, citing renewed foreign investment and support from major energy firms.<\/p>\n
\u201cVenezuela is going to make more money in the next six months than they\u2019ve made in the last 20 years,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n
\u201cEvery major oil company is coming in with us. It\u2019s amazing. It\u2019s a beautiful thing to see. The leadership of the country has been very good. They\u2019ve been very, very smart.\u201d<\/p>\n
Onto the topic of energy<\/h2>\n Trump then turned to energy policy, highlighting a shift in his stance on nuclear power and reiterating his longstanding criticism of renewable energy.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe\u2019re going heavy into nuclear. I was not a big fan because I didn\u2019t like the risk, the danger, but the progress they\u2019ve made with nuclear is unbelievable, and the safety progress they\u2019ve made is incredible,\u201d Trump said.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe\u2019re very much into the world of nuclear energy, and we can have it now at good prices and very, very safe.\u201d<\/p>\n
His statements follow a news release from the US Department of Energy on Tuesday that announced Trump would be \u201cunleashing America\u2019s next nuclear renaissance\u201d by expanding infrastructure to create such energy.<\/p>\n
Trump has also grown his personal business ties with private nuclear power firms. In December, the Trump Media and Technology Group, of which Trump is the majority owner, announced a $6bn merger with TAE Technologies, a fusion energy company.<\/p>\n
While Trump has warmed to nuclear power, he doubled down on his opposition to green energy initiatives designed to combat climate change. Calling such efforts the \u201cGreen New Scam\u201d \u2013 his spin on the \u201cGreen New Deal\u201d \u2013 he blamed Europe\u2019s economic wobbles on efforts to embrace renewable technology.<\/p>\n
\u201cThere are windmills all over Europe. There are windmills all over the place, and they are losers. One thing I\u2019ve noticed is that the more windmills a country has, the more money that country loses and the worse that country is doing,\u201d he told his audience at Davos.<\/p>\n
\u2018Canada should be grateful\u2019<\/h2>\n From his podium,\u00a0Trump also responded to Tuesday\u2019s remarks from Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney.<\/p>\n
The leader of Canada\u2019s Liberal Party, Carney had encouraged world leaders to prepare for a future without US leadership and warned that the \u201cgreat powers\u201d of the world appeared to be abandoning \u201ceven the pretence of rules and values for the unhindered pursuit of their power\u201d.<\/p>\n
While Carney did not explicitly mention Trump, it was clear his remarks were aimed at the US leader. Trump replied more directly during his turn at the Davos podium.<\/p>\n
\u201cCanada gets a lot of freebies from us,\u201d Trump said.<\/p>\n
\u201cThey should be grateful. But they\u2019re not. I watched your prime minister yesterday. He wasn\u2019t so grateful. Canada lives because of the United States. Remember that, Mark, the next time you make your statements.\u201d<\/p>\n
Trump says he is meeting Zelenskyy<\/h2>\n Trump also spoke about the war in Ukraine, and his efforts to mediate between Russian President Vladimir Putin and his Ukrainian counterpart, Volodymyr Zelenskyy.<\/p>\n
\u201cI\u2019m dealing with President Putin, and he wants to make a deal,\u201d Trump said.<\/p>\n
\u201cI believe I\u2019m dealing with President Zelenskyy, and I think he wants to make a deal. I\u2019m meeting him today. He might be in the audience right now.\u201d<\/p>\n
A post on Zelenskyy\u2019s social media account, however, showed the Ukrainian leader at his presidential office in Kyiv on Wednesday, holding a meeting on the energy situation following Russian strikes. His office confirmed he is in Ukraine, not at Davos.<\/p>\n
Still, Trump insisted that he would help navigate Ukraine and Russia to an end to their war, which began nearly four years ago in February 2022.<\/p>\n
\u201cThey\u2019ve got to get that war stopped. Because too many people are dying, needlessly dying. Too many souls are being lost. It\u2019s the only reason I\u2019m interested in doing it. But in doing it, I\u2019m helping Europe. I\u2019m helping NATO,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n
\u2018Those beautiful sunglasses\u2019<\/h2>\n At one point in his meandering speech, Trump stopped to poke fun at French President Emmanuel Macron, mocking the aviator sunglasses he wore to Davos.<\/p>\n
\u201cI watched him yesterday with those beautiful sunglasses. What the hell happened?\u201d Trump asked.<\/p>\n
Macron\u2019s office said the choice to wear sunglasses during his speech, which took place indoors, was to protect his eyes because of a burst blood vessel.<\/p>\nFrance\u2019s President Emmanuel Macron attends the 56th annual World Economic Forum [Denis Balibouse\/Reuters]<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n
United States President Donald Trump has said he would not take over Greenland by \u200bforce, but he stuck firmly to his demand for control over the Danish territory during a speech in Davos, Switzerland. He also hinted at consequences if his ambitions were thwarted. \u201cPeople thought I \u200cwould use force, but I don\u2019t have to […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":9471,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[6],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-9470","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-europe-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/inernews.online\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/9470","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/inernews.online\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/inernews.online\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/inernews.online\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/inernews.online\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=9470"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/inernews.online\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/9470\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/inernews.online\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/9471"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/inernews.online\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=9470"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/inernews.online\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=9470"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/inernews.online\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=9470"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}
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