Full text of Trump's Davos 2025 speech and Q&A with financial giants

Organized by: Deng Tong, Golden Finance

President Donald Trump spoke at the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland on Thursday, his first appearance at an international event since returning to the White House earlier this week.

In a 45-minute speech, Trump criticized European regulators for being too tough on U.S. technology companies, oil producers for keeping oil prices too high and big banks refusing to serve conservatives.

He also called on countries around the world to invest in the United States, promising lower taxes and a looser regulatory structure.

On the domestic front, Trump expressed pressure on the Federal Reserve on interest rates.

"I will demand an immediate reduction in interest rates," Trump said. "Similarly, interest rates around the world should fall as well. Rates should follow us down."

Trump's remarks are widely believed to be the opening salvo in his upcoming lobbying campaign against Federal Reserve Chairman Jerome Powell.

Golden Finance compiled the full text of Trump’s speech as follows:

Klaus Schwab, founder of the World Economic Forum:

Hello Mr. President, it is a great honor and pleasure to welcome you back to the Davos family. You have only been in office for four days. We thank you very much for coming today and we wish you all the best. As you take on the critical work of the future, the global challenges we face today are enormous. American leadership and your personal leadership in this effort are critical. We are here to hear from you about revitalizing the economy and addressing global challenges. vision and policies. As you would expect, Mr. President, you are back in office and your upcoming policies have been a focus of our discussions this week. So as 3,000 political and business leaders from more than 130 countries gather in Davos, we look forward to hearing from you first.

Klaus Schwab, founder of the World Economic Forum

Trump:

Thank you very much Claus, beautiful Davos!

U.S. President Trump

Hi everyone, this has been a truly historic week in America, 3 days ago I was sworn in and we began a golden age in America, the most recent presidential election was won by millions of votes and all seven states were won, This is a massive mandate from the American people the likes of which we haven't seen in years, and some political commentators, even some of my so-called enemies, say it's the most important electoral victory in 129 years.

What the world has witnessed in the past 72 hours is nothing less than a revolution in common sense. It is incredible that our country will soon be stronger, richer, and more united than ever before, and that the entire planet will be more peaceful and prosperous. The result of momentum.

My administration is moving at an unprecedented pace to address the disaster we inherited from a group of utterly incompetent people and to address every crisis our country faces. That starts with confronting the economic chaos caused by the failed policies of the previous administration over the past four years, which saw our government waste $8 trillion in deficit spending and impose energy restrictions, draconian regulations, and hidden taxes that undermined the nation. The result is the worst inflationary crisis in modern history , with interest rates sky-high for our citizens and the world, skyrocketing prices for food and just about everything else known to man, and President Biden has completely lost his grip on our country Control of what's going on, especially in our high-inflation economy and border issues.

As a result of these destructive policies, total government spending this year is $1.5 trillion higher than projected when I left office four years ago. Likewise, the cost of servicing the debt is more than 230% higher than projected for 2020. We inherit Inflation remains 50% above historical target and may be the highest inflation rate in our country's history. That’s why from the moment I took office, I moved quickly to reverse every radical left policy that contributed to this disaster, especially immigration crime and inflation. On day one, I signed an executive order directing every member of my Cabinet to mobilize every power at their disposal to defeat inflation and lower the cost of daily life. I implemented a federal hiring freeze, a federal regulation freeze, and a foreign aid freeze. Freeze, I created a new Department of Government Efficiency, I ended the absurd and mind-boggling waste.

The Green New Deal, what I call the Green New Scam, withdraw from the one-sided Paris Climate Agreement, end the crazy expensive electric car mandates , and we'll let people buy the cars they want. I'm declaring a national energy emergency. This is very important. The national energy emergency is to unlock the liquid gold beneath our feet and pave the way for rapid approval of new energy infrastructure. The United States has the most oil and natural gas on the planet and we are going to harness it. Not only would this lower the cost of nearly all goods and services, it would also make the United States a manufacturing superpower and the world capital of artificial intelligence and cryptocurrency.

My administration has also begun the largest deregulatory campaign in history, far exceeding the record-breaking efforts of my last term , with the Biden administration adding $50,000 in additional regulatory costs to the average American family over the past four years. My commitment to repeal 10 old regulations for every new one will quickly put thousands of dollars back into the pockets of American families and further free up our economy.

We will pass the largest tax cut in American history, including massive tax cuts for workers and their families, as well as deep tax cuts for domestic producers and manufacturers. We're working with the Democrats to get the original tax cuts extended, and you probably just have to read any newspaper to know that my message to every business in the world is simple, come to America, make your products, and we'll give them You have the lowest tax rate of any country in the world. We are reducing the tax rates significantly, even lower than the original tax cuts, but if you do not manufacture your product in the United States, which is your prerogative, then very simply you will have to pay a different amount of tariffs, but the tariffs will Directing hundreds of billions, if not trillions, of dollars into our coffers to strengthen our economy and pay down our debt.

Under the Trump administration, there is no better place on earth to create jobs, build factories or grow companies than the United States. This can already be seen in the American economy, where American economic confidence is soaring. It was just announced that small business optimism surged 41 points in a month, which is the highest it's ever been, there's never been anything like it. SoftBank announces $100-200 billion investment in U.S. economy as election results come just two days after Oracle, SoftBank and Open AI announced a $500 billion investment in artificial intelligence infrastructure, with other companies announcing billions Dollars, billions, billions of dollars of investment, adding up to trillions of dollars in investment in the United States,

Today's newspapers also reported that Saudi Arabia will invest at least $600 billion in the United States, but I would ask the Crown Prince to round the number to around $1 trillion, which he is a great man, and I think they will do that because We are good to them and I will also ask Saudi Arabia and OPEC to lower the cost of oil, you have to bring the price down. If oil prices fall, the Russian-Ukrainian war will end immediately. Oil prices are high enough now that the war will continue. You have to lower the price of oil, you have to end the war. They actually bear a lot of responsibility for what's going on to a certain extent. I would demand that interest rates be lowered immediately, and similarly, interest rates should be lowered around the world.

Everything you're seeing is because of the historic victory we had recently in the presidential election, which was well-known around the world, and I think a lot of things happened in a lot of countries. They say that since the election, the whole world has shone brightly, and even countries that we are not particularly friendly to are happy because they understand what the future looks like and how great it can be under our leadership. America is back and open for business.

This week I also took swift action to stop illegal immigration at the southern border. I have decided to declare a national emergency at our border and immediately stop all illegal border crossers from entering the country. Will begin rapidly returning illegal border crossers to where they came from. As you may have seen, this operation has begun, very vigorously, active duty US military and National Guard troops have been deployed to the border to assist in repelling the invasion. This is a true invasion, and we will not allow our territory to be invaded for four long years. Violated years later. America is a strong, sovereign, and beautiful country, and it is becoming a strong, sovereign country again.

Furthermore, I am pleased to announce that America is also a free country. On day one, I signed an executive order halting all government censorship. Our government will no longer label the speech of our own citizens as misinformation or disinformation. This is a warning to sensors and those who wish to prevent the free exchange of ideas. And a favorite word of outspoken progressives, we saved free speech in America, and we powerfully saved it this week with another historic executive order.

I've also ended the weaponization of law enforcement against the American people and, frankly, politicians, restored fairness, equity, and the rule of law, and my administration has taken action to dismantle all discriminatory diversity, equity, and inclusion nonsense. These policies are absolute crap throughout government and the private sector, and with the recent but somewhat unexpected big Supreme Court ruling that just came out, America will once again become a merit-based nation, you have to hear "merit-based the word "country".

I have officially announced that it is the official policy of the United States that there are only two genders, male and female, that we will have no men competing in women 's sports and that transgender action, which was once all the rage, will be very rare.

Ultimately, as we restore American common sense and we move quickly to restore strength, peace, and stability abroad, I will also ask all NATO nations to increase defense spending to 5 percent of GDP , a level that should have been reached years ago. , only 2% at the time. Most countries had not paid these military expenditures before I took office, and I insisted that they pay, and they did, because the United States did pay the difference at that time. It's unfair to America, but a lot of things have been unfair to America for many years. Even before I took office, my team negotiated a ceasefire agreement in the Middle East that would not have happened without us. Earlier this week, the hostages began returning to their families and they are coming back, it's a beautiful place and they will be coming back more and more.

Our efforts to secure a peaceful settlement between Russia and Ukraine are now hopefully underway, and it is important that this work is completed. It was an absolute killing field, millions of soldiers were killed, no one had seen anything like this since World War II, their bodies were laid out across a flat field, a flat farmland where millions of Russians and Millions of Ukrainians, no one has seen anything like this since World War II, and it’s time to end it.

In the United States, we have big events next year, the United States will celebrate its 250th anniversary, and I am honored to serve as president. This is a major event that they have been talking about for 10 years. We also had the World Cup and then we were about to have the Olympics which was also a key part of my first term, who would have known that I would be able to get the Olympics by skipping a term. I 'll be president during the World Cup, the Olympics and the 250th anniversary, so those will be the three big events and we get more done in less than four days, we actually work in four days, than other governments have done in Much more could be accomplished in four years.

We are just getting started and it is amazing to see the spirit and light of our country. Our country suffered tremendous losses under the previous administration, but we will bounce back and make it stronger and better than ever. I heard the audience was great, a lot of my friends were in the audience, and I'm going to take questions now from some really great people, thank you all so much, thank you very much.

Q&A session:

Blackstone CEO Stephen Schwarzman

Stephen Schwarzman, CEO of Blackstone Group: Mr. President, thank you for a very powerful speech, and I think you can hear the applause from Davos to the White House. So we welcome you to join us next year, thank you very much. My question is about something I observed in Davos: there are a lot of European business people who are very unhappy with the regulatory regime in the EU, and they think there are many reasons for the slowdown in economic growth here, but mainly because supervision. And you 've taken a completely different approach to this area, and I'd be very grateful if you could explain a little bit about the theory of what you're doing, thank you very much.

Trump: I want to talk about the European Union because you specifically mentioned that I also have a lot of friends and leaders of countries that I got to know during my first term. Over the course of four years, I got to know them very well and liked them very much, but they were very depressed. Because everything seems to take time to get an approved environmental impact statement that you're not supposed to make. Because there are many other ways to replace declarations. Let me give you a simple example. In my private life, I live a simple and wonderful life. But when I was living a simple life, I did some projects, I had a big project in Ireland and it had to be approved, this would make it even better, I got it approved in Ireland within a week, this It's a very, very effective approval. They told me the big problem is you have to get approval from the EU, which we think will take five to six years. I said you must be kidding, I don’t want to take five or six years, but it will be a big investment, it will be good, it will be good for the project, I sent people to the EU to see if they can speed it up speed. I realized then that this was my first real involvement with the EU, but I realized then that it was a problem and I didn't even bother to apply.

If I did, I would quickly withdraw it because you can't wait five or six years to get approval. So a lot of people, from a very large business perspective, are claiming that this is an American problem, that the EU is very unfair to us, very bad, they have a huge tax system that we know, and VAT, which is a very substantial of taxes. They don't take our agricultural products, they don't take our cars, but they send us millions of cars, and they put tariffs on things we want to do. They want to sell their products in the U.S., so we have a hundreds of billions of dollars in deficit with the EU and no one is happy about that and we're going to do something about it.

I think the EU has to speed up their approval process , I have friends in some countries in the EU and they are great people and they want to be able to compete better. If you can't get through the approval process quickly, you can't compete. They impose VAT and all these other taxes on the US, very, very unfairly, and we have some very big complaints about the EU.

Patrick Pouyanne, CEO of Total Energies

Patrick Pouyanne, CEO of Total Energies: I'm honored to be on this panel tonight representing the energy industry. Total Energies is indeed the fourth largest natural gas and electricity company in the world. I'm not going to ask. Your question about oil prices. We are an exporter of LNG from the United States, we are a strong contributor to the Mamu energy project in Texas, and we have invested $20 billion, which is much less than $220 billion, but $20 billion. We contribute to Europe's supply security through these investments because we export this energy to Europe, and some experts worry that if the United States develops too many projects in LNG, it could have an inflationary impact on domestic U.S. natural gas prices, They recommended taking a stance on the project. I want to ask you the following question, what are your thoughts on this stance on U.S. energy investment, and what happens if you see domestic gas prices increase because of exports? The last question is important for Europe. Do you agree to ensure the security of U.S. energy supply to Europe?

Trump: To your last question, yes, I will ensure security and we will make a deal. Liquefied natural gas is very interesting because when I came into my first term, my first priority was two, Louisiana has two very large plants, which would be very beneficial to me. I actually appreciate it, they said there are two plants that have been under environmental consideration for over 10 years and their cost is as you said you know how expensive these plants are but their cost is about $12 billion I Thinking it was $14 billion or $15 billion, but they couldn't get the license and they were scrutinized for years, probably a decade or more. I said this is ridiculous. The total investment you're talking about is $25 to $30 billion, and it looks like it's going to end, they can't get the license, and I got it done in less than a week.

What I'd like to see is we're going to get these reviews approved quickly in the United States, just like the AI ​​program, a lot of people want to build them, it's going to be a big deal, we're going to build power generation facilities, which I'm going to do under the emergency declaration They were approved. I can get it approved on my own without having to wait years, the big question is we need to double the energy the US currently has , can you imagine AI being as great as we want it to be because it's very competitive Strong, it will compete with China and other countries.

Coal is very powerful as a backup if there's an emergency, it's a great backup to have that facility, it doesn't cost a lot, we have more coal than anybody, we have more oil and gas than anybody , so we will allow these power plants to have their own generation facilities, connected directly to their power plants, they don't have to worry about utilities, they don't have to worry about anything, and we will approve it very quickly.

(Brian BAC Moynihan, CEO of Bank of America)

Bank of America CEO Brian Moynihan: Good afternoon, Mr. President, congratulations, obviously it's been an eventful week for you and your family, and if you remember 5 years ago when you came At this point, we've spoken to 50 CEOs from around the world, and you've discussed your policies and procedures with them. As you mentioned before, a series of orders followed on immigration, trade and many other issues, so as representatives of the United States, we received a lot of questions. The president is focused on growth, prosperity, market growth, stock market growth, good bond markets, and lower prices, so how do you see the impact of these orders? How quickly are they released? How will you balance them? At the same time, keep GDP growing, lower inflation, maintain good stock prices, and reduce corporate taxes to 21%?

TRUMP: Actually, if you look at states and cities, in many cases, corporate taxes were well above 40%, I lowered them to 21%, and now we 're going to go from 21% to 15%. If you make your product in the United States, you have the lowest tax rate, almost the lowest tax rate, and the lowest among the big countries. You know, a rich, powerful country, so far, there's not even competition, so we're going to lower it to 15%.

We're actually cutting taxes for corporations and small businesses, which will bring it down to 15%. This is truly an amazing thing. By the way, speaking of you, you're doing a great job, but I hope you start opening up your banks to conservatives because a lot of conservatives are complaining about banks not allowing them to do business inside the banks, including one called Bank of America place.

(Anna Boudin, Executive Chairman of Santander Bank)

Anna Boudin, Executive Chairman of Santander Bank: Mr. President, congratulations on our historic victory. I am sure you do not know me as well as my colleagues, so I will give you a little introduction. Santander is one of the largest banks in the world by number of customers, 170 million, which is more than my friends Brian or Jamie have. They're fixing the regulation that's coming, which is tricky, we're a big investor in the U.S., we have millions of customers, 12,000 employees, we're one of the largest auto lenders, we recently launched something called Open Banking As an all-digital bank, we firmly believe banks play a critical role in the economy and we can accelerate growth and help more customers, and that's what we're doing in the United States. So as Brian pointed out, your focus on deregulation and reducing bureaucracy is more than welcome. So my question is, what are your priorities in this regard? How quickly will this happen?

Trump: Thank you very much! I know your bank very well and you do a great job. We're going to move quickly, we're moving very quickly and over the last three days we've done some things that no one thought was possible in years and everything is coming into effect. It's going to have a huge impact on the economy, a huge positive impact, money is being wasted on crazy things, I mean the Green New Deal is a complete disgrace. I should add that they never even took an energy or environment course, it was just a game.

You know, during my four years in office, our air was the cleanest, our water was the cleanest, but our economy was the most productive in history. In fact, you can look around the world and we beat every country. One thing we have to do is we have to demand respect from other countries. Canada, for example, we have a huge deficit with Canada and we're not going to do that anymore. Canada has been difficult to deal with for many years and we have a $200 billion or $250 billion deficit, which is unfair. We don 't need them to build our cars, we don't need their wood, we don't need their oil and gas.

We're dealing with Mexico, which I think is fine, we just want to be treated fairly with other countries. Politicians are allowing other countries to take advantage of us and we can't allow that to happen anymore, you know we have a debt, it's a small debt. We just want to eliminate debt, and we're going to be able to do that fairly quickly, and a lot of good things are going to happen, and honestly, good things are going to happen to the world, and good things are going to happen to the people that we deal with.

I really want to meet with President Putin as soon as possible and end this war, not from an economic or any other perspective, but from the perspective of millions of lives being wasted. Young men were shot on the battlefield and you know the bullets were on very flat ground and as I said the bullets were not hidden the only thing that stopped the bullets was the human body you have to see it was a massacre we really This war must stop. That doesn’t include the lives lost as buildings in the city are destroyed one after another, so we really should stop this.

The same goes for the Middle East , I think we've made a lot of progress in the Middle East and I think it's going to be good progress.

Borge Brende, CEO of the World Economic Forum

World Economic Forum CEO Borge Brende: Thank you, thank you Mr. President, we know that the most important relationship in the world is the relationship between the United States and China. We account for 28% of the global economy. China Nearly 20%, accounting for almost half of global GDP. How do you see the relationship between the United States and China over the next four years under your leadership?

I think we're going to have a very good relationship, we want fairness, we just want a level playing field, we don't want to take advantage. Biden's $1.1 trillion deficit is ridiculous, it's just an unfair relationship and we have to make it fair.

In fact, in many Asian countries, our deficits are very large, and we cannot continue to do this. We have always had a good relationship with China and we look forward to having a good relationship with China and hoping that China can help us stop the war with Russia and Ukraine. They have a lot of influence over the situation and we will work with them. We want to achieve denuclearization with President Putin before the election results are known.

World Economic Forum CEO Borge Brende: Mr. President, will Ukraine and Russia reach a peace agreement?

Trump: If I were president of Ukraine, this war should never have started. There was no war during my tenure and I never even talked about it. But when I stepped down, bad things happened. The end result is now these bombed-out cities that look like demolition sites and a lot of people are dead, and I think you 're going to see far more deaths in Ukraine than are reported. I've seen it, and when you see a city turned into a demolition site, with buildings destroyed by missiles and a lot of people killed, I'm surprised how that related to me. I think you'll find more people died in the war in Ukraine than anyone thought, but if you look now, many of the people killed were soldiers with guns and rifles and drones, new forms of war drones... This is a very sad thing.