Bill Cara

America’s Embarrassment: Trump’s Unhinged Speech to the World Economic Forum

January 23, 2025

Do Americans understand the gravitas of Trump’s 40-minute speech to the WEF delegates in Davos today?

It is a grave matter that Trump gave another unhinged speech today at the World Economic Forum. He said, and I quote, “If you don’t make your products in America, which is your prerogative, you will pay tariffs…”

Is it normal for a US President to threaten the world’s leaders and financial elite like this? The US has 4.2% of the world’s population, and its economy is roughly 26% of the world’s total.

So he’s demanding that leaders of 96% of the world’s population and 74% of the world’s economy move their economic goods production to the US, or he’ll tax them when shipping goods to America.

What he’s saying to Americans who don’t understand is that he’ll tax them until they stop buying those products. He’ll tell them that the rest of the world will pay these tariffs, but he knows it’s another of his big lies.

In today’s speech, Trump told the world that Canadians treat his country “badly.” He says the US doesn’t need Canadian oil, gas, forest products, or automobiles and presumably their tourists. He didn’t mention electricity.

I suppose he believes that Canada surely needs the equal value of vehicles, machinery, nuclear reactors, boilers, fuels, chemicals, electrical and electronic equipment, plastics, iron, steel, random commodities, liquor, beer, wine, agricultural products, and professional services the US exports to Canada.

But Trump likes to threaten countries like a mafia leader because he’ll soon have a former Fox television personality overseeing America’s 2.13 million-strong active and reserve military personnel. Does he even understand that the rest of the world has almost 97% of all active, reserve, and paramilitary personnel, and these foreign wars have never gone well for America? Does he know the US spends 37% of the world’s annual expenditures on military and the rest of the world 63%? And yet he threatens countries like a typical New York mobster threatens competing gangsters and local citizens.

As unhinged as Trump is, he is the US President, and so we must take the man seriously. But the world is stumped as to why Americans voted for this. There are two losers in every war, whether military, economic, or financial.

In financial terms, Americans have invested almost $7 trillion abroad, and foreign investors have about $5.5 trillion in the US. Every time Trump makes a speech like today to the global elite at the Davos conference, there are trillions at stake.

This nonsense can go on for only so long. The world is not watching reality TV. Every word from a US President has consequences, many unintended.