Trump on mission to sell US overseas
The president will give a speech at the forum and meet with world leaders and business executives.
President Trump is on a mission to sell the United States to the global business community as his historic impeachment trial gets underway.
Trump will be thousands of miles away trying to charm global CEOs at the World Economic Forum in Switzerland.
The two-day Swiss visit will test Trump's ability to balance his anger over being impeached with a desire to project leadership on the world stage.
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Speculation mounted that Trump would cancel the trip due to the trial, but aides said the president remained focused on producing results for the American people.
Trump said he was attending the forum to encourage businesses to invest in the U.S.
The president will give a speech at the forum and meet with world leaders and business executives.
Trump said he would attend the Davos forum despite the awkward timing because he wants to encourage businesses to come back to the U.S.
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“Our country is the hottest country anywhere in the world,” he said at the White House last week. "There's nothing even close. I’ll be meeting the biggest business leaders in the world, getting them to come here.”
The White House has not named any of the business leaders Trump is set to meet with. But he is scheduled to hold talks with the leaders of Iraq, Pakistan, Switzerland and Iraq's self-governing Kurdish region, as well as the forum's founder, the White House said.
Trump also will have his first meeting with the new European Commission president, Ursula von der Leyen, the first woman to hold the position.
That meeting could be the most significant, said analyst Matt Goodman, given Trump’s many disagreements with Europe over tax and trade policy, like a new digital levy by the French that will force American tech giants such as Amazon and Google to pay up.
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Trump has announced plans to impose retaliatory tariffs of up to 100 percent on cheese, wine, lipstick and other French imports. France has threatened to fight back.
But after speaking to Trump on Monday, French President Emmanuel Macron tweeted that they had a “great discussion” about the digital tax and "will work together on a good agreement to avoid tariff escalation.”
The U.S. has also threatened to impose retaliatory duties on $7.5 billion worth of European airplanes, cheese, wine and other goods in a separate dispute over subsidies for Airbus, a competitor to Chicago-based Boeing Co.
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Trump has sought to wring trade concessions from the EU by threatening tariffs on German autos, including BMW and Mercedes-Benz.
The Associated Press contributed to this article.