Trump Is Today’s Main Event at Davos
As the president of the United States, Donald Trump would have been the World Economic Forum’s center of attention today no matter what. Add to that the better part of a year spent beating up allies over tariffs, and he was guaranteed to have some unenthusiastic listeners in his audience.
But his aggressive comments about taking over Greenland further ramp up the attention on his speech today in Davos, Switzerland.
European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen said that Trump’s threats of using military force to control the Arctic territory were a “mistake” that would violate the deal he forged last year with the bloc. Officials in Europe have begun drafting plans to retaliate, raising doubts about that accord’s staying power.
Talking to reporters ahead of his transatlantic flight — which initially had to turn around because of mechanical issues — Trump said that once the allies see him in person the mood will change. “They get a little bit rough when they’re — you know, when I’m not around, but when I’m around, they treat me very nicely.”
Happy Russians
While European allies are vexed, the Russian delegation in Davos sees some parallels between what Trump wants to do and what their military already did by occupying parts of Ukraine, including the Crimean peninsula.
“Crimea is no less important for the security of the Russian Federation than Greenland is for the United States,” Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov said at a news conference in Moscow. “The rules are no longer written by the collective West, but by a single representative of it.” Read More
And It Has Come to This
The Globe and Mail and the Economist are reporting on contingency planning in Canada for the unlikely event of a US invasion — preparations that underscore how sharply relations between the two long-standing allies have deteriorated.
The countries have not been in armed conflict against each other since the War of 1812. Read More
See Also:
- EU ‘Fully Prepared’ to Hit Back Over Trump’s Greenland Tariffs
- US Pushes Back on French Calls for NATO Drills in Greenland
- US Envoys to Meet Putin for New Talks on Ukraine, Witkoff Says
Eye on Tariffs
And the wait continues. Since the Supreme Court heard arguments over Trump’s “emergency” tariffs on an expedited basis, some close watchers of the court predicted a decision in a matter of weeks, rather than the usual months.
Greg Stohr explains that after today, there isn’t another courtroom session on the justices’ schedule until Feb. 20, defying the predictions of quick action. And by Feb. 20, according to Bloomberg Economics analyst Chris Kennedy, collections of the disputed tariffs will exceed $170 billion.
Here’s what’s going on in the background: the US Court of International Trade has been quietly laying the groundwork for potential refunds. That may not be a smooth process, since the government said that it reserves “our right to challenge specific complaints.”
Trade lawyers also say that it’s not clear the administration will concede that it must pay mass refunds at all if the Supreme Court is silent on the issue. Read More
Fed Independence
Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell is planning to be in the room today when the Supreme Court considers whether Trump can fire Fed Governor Lisa Cook.
“This is a case that’s about much more than Cook,” said Lev Menand, a Columbia University law professor who studies the Fed and filed a brief opposing the firing. “It’s about whether President Trump will be able to take over the Federal Reserve Board in the coming months.” Read More
Stohr and Erik Larson walk through the case that will decide how independent the central bank will be going forward. At its core are a few words that don’t have a definition. They explain that a 1913 law says members of the Fed’s Board of Governors can be “removed for cause,” although the statute doesn’t specify exactly what “cause” means.
The Supreme Court has never considered whether a president had adequate grounds to dismiss an official for cause. Read More
See Also: The Latest on the Search for Powell’s Successor
Saying No
The appropriations package that House leaders plan to start debating today is noteworthy for a few reasons, beginning with the fact that it exists at all — passing it provides a real chance Congress could get to Jan. 30 without having to write another stopgap measure.
Another reason it stands out is that includes a few instances of Congress saying no to Trump.
Anthony Capaccio reports that the military portion of the package includes strong support for an embattled test office at the Pentagon that was slashed by Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth.
The test office ensures key national security priorities, including the planned “Golden Dome” missile defense system, are safe and effective, lawmakers wrote in an accompanying statement. Though not legally binding, the language is a formal warning shot that lawmakers are skeptical of Hegseth’s move to remove 75% of the employees at the Operational Test and Evaluation office. Read More
And Victoria Knight and Erin Durkin report that Senate Democrats say they were able to blunt some proposed cuts at HHS, including by allocating $49 billion to the National Institutes of Health. Read More
The bill also pushes back on the administration’s efforts to cap the amount of money the NIH pays for the indirect costs for research at educational institutions.
In today’s edition of BGOV Budget, Ken Tran and Zach C. Cohen report House GOP leaders are hopeful the bills can get over to the Senate this week. But as Maeve Sheehey reports, the GOP’s bottom-up approach to counting votes has produced some surprises.
Unvaccinated Elders
Data from the National Center for Health Statistics show flu vaccinations among adults age 65 and older have dropped as two consecutive severe flu seasons that have seen thousands die from the disease, Miquéla V Thornton reports.
New research shows that flu vaccinations for older adults dropped to 67.1% in 2024, down from 70.5% in 2019. The drop comes amid one of the worst flu seasons on record, as a new virus strain surges across the country. Read More
Also Read: South Carolina Measles Cases Push US Toward Losing Status
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