- President Donald Trump gave a rambling, 30-minute speech at the World Economic Forum’s annual meeting in Davos, Switzerland Tuesday.
- There he lauded US economic achievements, including his recent trade deals with China and Mexico, and his administration’s efforts to improve the domestic economy.
- “America is winning again like never before,” he said.
- He made no mention of his impending impeachment trial at the Senate, which is due to begin in a few hours.
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US President Donald Trump gave a bizarre, rambling speech to members of the world’s political and financial elite at Davos on Tuesday, touting US economic achievements without once mentioning the elephant in the room – his impending Senate impeachment trial back home.
In his 30-minute speech at the World Economic Forum’s annual meeting, Trump lauded to the packed audience his recent trade deals with China and Mexico, and his administration’s efforts to improve the domestic economy, among others.
“Today I’m proud to declare the United States is in the midst of an economic boom, the likes of which the world has never seen before,” he said.
“America is thriving. America is flourishing and yes, America is winning again like never before.”
Trump and Liu He, China's Vice Premier, signed a phase-one trade agreement last Wednesday.
Though this was the first tangible sign of de-escalation in the nearly two-year-long trade dispute, the agreement still left out many key issues that the US has with China, including the large-scale subsidies China gives its companies and remaining tariffs on thousands of products.
"Our relationship with China has right now probably never been better," he said. "We went through a rough patch."
The day after, the Senate also passed a rewrite of the North American Free Trade Agreement - known as the United States-Mexico-Canada Agreement - giving Trump another major trade victory.
During his Davos speech, Trump also claimed he "saved HBCUs" - referring to Historically Black Colleges and Universities - adding: "They were going out. I saved them."
He was likely referring to a bipartisan bill signed last month, for which he took credit, to permanently restore $255 million in annual funding to HBCUs that had lapsed earlier that year.
On the domestic US economy, he added: "Tremendous wealth is pouring into areas that for 100 years saw nothing ... There is no better place on earth than the United States."
The president also announced that he US would join the WEF's Trillion Tree Campaign in recognition of the body's focus this year on sustainability and climate change.
"I'm a big believer in the environment," Trump told reporters before his speech. "The environment to me is very important."
Speaking to reporters after the speech, Trump said his talk was "very well received" among the audience, which he said contained leaders of many countries and large companies around the world.
"Many of those people will be coming, making investments in a very large number, big investments in the United States," he said.
"That means jobs, economic development, and we're doing well, we've never done this well before, and we're going to do a lot better."
The elephant in the room
There was not a single mention in his speech of his impending Senate impeachment trial back home, which begins 1 p.m. ET on Tuesday on Capitol Hill.
Shortly before his speech, Trump called the trial a "hoax" that had "been going on for years," NBC News reported from Davos. He did not speak about it after.
On Tuesday, the Senate is due to vote on whether they will hear from witnesses. The chamber will ultimately vote on whether to charge or acquit the president.
Calling in witnesses could be dangerous to Trump, considering the number of people close to the president who have come forward in recent days threatening to release damaging information, including former National Security Adviser John Bolton and Ukrainian businessman Lev Parnas.
Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell, who previously said he would work with the White House to absolve Trump, on Monday unveiled a resolution to make the trial a speedy one.
A CNN poll released Monday night showed 51% of Americans said the Senate should vote to remove Trump from office.
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- Meet the 7 House Representatives who will argue the case for convicting Trump in his upcoming impeachment trial
- The oath senators just took at the start of the impeachment trial is essentially meaningless
