Davos (Switzerland) (AFP) – Overlooking the Davos promenade, a 19th-century Alpine church sports huge banners of a stern-looking eagle wrapped in an American flag, proclaiming this year’s “USA House.” Reto and Sandy Meroni, who have lived just outside the Swiss ski resort for years, stopped to take pictures while walking their dog among hundreds of World Economic Forum attendees milling outside.
“Are there more Americans than ever at Davos?” “Yes definitely,” Reto tells AFP. “A lot of Americans in the restaurants, in the shops…” “Too many!” interjects Sandy, who was not thrilled about having to park far from the village centre just to go grocery shopping — security is even more draconian with US President Donald Trump arriving Wednesday. “I don’t like the way they’re treating their so-called friends,” she adds, referring to Trump’s threats to take over Greenland one way or another.
More than ever, Davos has effectively become the Winter White House this year, dominated by its biggest US delegation ever. Secretary of State Marco Rubio and Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent are among the Trump cabinet officials, along with dozens of key aides. Officials are using the USA House — sponsored by companies who paid up to $1 million for the privilege, according to The Financial Times — for their own agenda of press conferences or intimate chats with lucky guests.
Access to the USA House is so popular it had to warn against fraudulent VIP passes being sold this year. At the nearby House of God, the US delegation hosted a pre-dawn interfaith service Tuesday with testimony from the actor Kelsey Grammer, of the hit 1990s series “Frasier.” “I have faith and I also have faith in America,” Grammer told the attendees under American flags hanging behind the altar space. “My country is…the repository for the most positive energy in the world,” he said. “Positive energy that says we can do whatever we want to.”
That sense of righteous confidence, embraced by Trump during his second term, can appear overbearing at a summit that celebrates multilateral cooperation and “A Spirit of Dialogue.” But many Davos attendees welcomed the American vibe infusing this year’s forum, seen also in the predominance of US companies taking over storefronts along the promenade to set up their private pavilions.
“We’re happy Trump is coming,” said Michael, a Swiss real estate executive who declined to give his family name, adding that he has made the trek to Davos for the past 25 years. “We need America…We should talk to each other,” he said. “If you lead a country like the US or China, it’s not easy. You have to play games, make deals.”
© 2024 AFP
