Trump demands lower interest rates, oil prices
DAVOS—US President Donald Trump demanded Opec lower oil prices and the world drop interest rates in a speech to global business and political leaders and warned them they will face tariffs if they make their products anywhere but the US.
“I’ll demand that interest rates drop immediately. And likewise, they should be dropping all over the world,” Trump said via video to the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland, on Thursday. “I’m also going to ask Saudi Arabia and OPEC to bring down the cost of oil.”
The remarks, Trump’s first to global leaders in his four-day-old presidency, bolster the message that his second term will eschew free market norms inside the US and out.
Despite robust comments on the tariffs he wants to put in place, he did not provide specifics at a time when markets are on edge over his plans.
Oil prices turned negative as Trump spoke, while the euro dipped and the US dollar swung between gains and losses against a basket of foreign currencies. The S&P 500 benchmark of US stocks rose to a near all-time high.
Rapid-fire changes
Trump spoke to about 3,000 Davos attendees, who cheered as Trump’s face appeared on the big screen. The president, a businessman whose first elected office was the White House, listed the rapid-fire changes he had made since his swearing-in on Monday that have upended US government policies on diversity, climate change and immigration.
In a subsequent conversation with conference attendees including Bank of America CEO Brian Moynihan and Blackstone Group CEO Stephen Schwarzman, the US president’s remarks veered between compliments and criticism.
At one point, Trump chided Moynihan and JPMorgan Chase for not providing banking services to conservatives. The banks were quick to issue statements saying that was untrue.
Moynihan ignored the accusation, instead complimenting Trump on the United States hosting the 2026 FIFA World Cup.
Unusual moment
Trump’s address was an unusual moment, affording a handful of business executives an opportunity to publicly question the US president on issues that affect their businesses, or in some cases their specific investments, projects and interests.
Some of his harshest criticism was reserved for traditional US allies Canada and the European Union, who he threatened again with new tariffs, while berating them for allowing trade surpluses with the United States.
“One thing we’re going to be demanding is we’re going to be demanding respect from other nations. Canada. We have a tremendous deficit with Canada. We’re not going to have that anymore,” he said.
