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US President Donald Trump, who has repeatedly expressed scepticism about climate change, lauded the US economy in his keynote address on yesterday morning, hours before his impeachment trial opens at the Senate in Washington, DC.
Trump told business and political leaders in the mountain resort that America’s economic turnaround had been “nothing short of spectacular”. He also lashed out at environmental campaigners as Swedish teenage activist Greta Thunberg watched on.
“We must reject the perennial prophets of doom and their predictions of the apocalypse,” said Trump, hours after Thunberg told the World Economic Forum that governments had done “basically nothing” to reverse climate change.
Trump’s opposition to renewable energy, his withdrawal from the 2015 Paris climate accord and the free hand extended to the fossil fuel industry puts him at odds with the entire thrust of the event.
His administration’s trade spats with China and the recent deal to ease tensions between the rival giant economies weigh heavy on the minds of leaders in Davos after the IMF slightly downgraded global growth prospects for 2020 on Monday. — Aljazeera.
Middle Eastern issues are also on Trump’s agenda, as he is set to meet Iraqi President Barham Salih, the president of the Kurdish region of northern Iraq, Nechirvan Barzani, and Pakistani Prime Minister Imran Khan.
Al Jazeera’s James Bays, reporting from Davos, said Trump decided to attend the summit on a day “when there is so much going on in Washington”.
“There was lots of speculation that he would cancel at the last minute but he didn’t,” Bays said.
“His advisers [believe] that this is a good look on this day, a chance to have him on the world stage, looking presidential and showing his strong suit because he’s going to be among the world’s top business leaders and that really is the strong card of the Trump administration – the economy and stock market.”
Online Reporter