Starmer is right to play it cool with Trump
There was a time, really not that long ago, when Davos concerned itself mostly with feel-good sessions on sustainability, inclusive growth, the promise of net zero and various other progressive causes.
Who can forget Bono chatting away on stage with Rwanda’s president on the importance of transparency and good governance? Or 2020’s inspiring theme of Stakeholders for a Cohesive and Sustainable World?
As pointless as all that was, the agenda at least provided safe and reassuring territory for the modern CEO, central banker or finance minister. How times change. This year, the global elite will jet into the Swiss resort amid a geopolitical earthquake, and the stakes are high.
Even without Donald Trump’s latest tariff salvo, the corporate agenda has moved on from endless fireside chats about diversity or the circular economy. We live in an age of hot wars, rival powers and, as Trump has proven, shaky alliances and unpredictable allies.
Whether or not Trump actually proceeds with his threat of fresh tariffs on America’s allies, the last 24 hours have reminded us that the US President is utterly cavalier with previously hallowed concepts such as market confidence, stability and stage-managed diplomacy.
With CEOs already reporting that disruption and economic conflict are top of their risk agenda, Trump’s playing fast and loose in pursuit of what he wants – and he wants Greenland.
New world order?
Our columnist and former US embassy staffer Michael Martins says this is part of the classic Trump playbook; start with the most outrageous suggestion and work backwards in order to secure a deal. Let’s hope he’s right, but in the meantime the President is eroding what goodwill remains and he’s testing the limits of the patience of his allies.
Emmanuel Macron is leading the call for painful retaliation while Canada’s Mark Carney talks gravely of a “new world order” – with China at the top. In the UK, meanwhile, Keir Starmer’s reaction to Trump’s outrageous assault on Nato and major economic partners has been soft, almost to the point of pathetic.
With fans at an NBA game in London booing the US national anthem at the weekend, you might have expected Starmer to reach for his ‘Love Actually moment’ and denounce Trump, but I think he’s taking exactly the right approach. Instead of playing to the gallery and ratcheting up the rhetoric, he’s taking the high ground and holding his tongue in the hope that calm heads can prevail. In this crucial endeavour, we wish Starmer all the best.