WEF 2018: Donald Trump takes 'America First' agenda to Davos globalists

Our economy is now booming and with all I am doing, will only get better: Trump

President Donald Trump arrived in Switzerland on Thursday to attend the World Economic Forum where he will push his “America First” agenda and seek more fair, reciprocal trade between the United States and its allies.

Trump arrived in Zurich en route to the Swiss ski resort of Davos for two days of events culminating in a speech on Friday to the forum of business and political leaders.

Trump, never invited as a businessman, will be the first U.S. president to attend Davos since Bill Clinton in 2000, giving him a chance to mingle with the same elite “globalists” he bashed in the 2016 election campaign.

“Will soon be heading to Davos, Switzerland, to tell the world how great America is and is doing,” Trump tweeted before departure. “Our economy is now booming and with all I am doing, will only get better...Our country is finally WINNING again!”

White House aides said Trump’s message would be the same that he has given during other trips aboard over the past year: The United States wants strong ties with its allies but wants to reduce chronic trade deficits with many of them.

“America first is not America alone,” said White House senior economic adviser Gary Cohn, who is travelling with Trump. “When we grow, the world grows; when the world grows, we grow. We’re part of it, and we’re part of a world economy. And the president believes that.”

In the run-up to his trip, Trump slapped a 30 percent tariff on imported solar panels, among the first unilateral trade restrictions imposed by the administration as part of a broader protectionist agenda.

Then on Wednesday in Davos, U.S. Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin said he welcomed a weakening in the dollar. Fears of protectionist trade policies by the United States had already pushed the greenback to a three-year low, and Mnuchin’s remark pushed it down further.

Trump will use his trip for some diplomacy. He has meetings with British Prime Minister Theresa May and Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on Thursday and Rwandan President Paul Kagame and Swiss President Alain Berset on Friday.