Ding Xuexiang, vice-premier of the People’s Republic of China, has defended globalisation in a speech at Davos today.

Ding insisted that economic globalisation is not a “you lose, I win zero sum game”, but a universally beneficial process.

Touching on the threat of a trade conflict with the US, Ding says:

Admittedly, economic globalisation will bring some tensions and disagreements on distribution.

These issues can only be resolved in the process of promoting economic globalisation.

Protectionism leads nowhere. Trade war has no winners.

European Commission president Ursula von der Leyen has used her speech at Davos to urge EU countries to work more closely together, in the face of the fragmenting global economy.

“The cooperative world order we imagined 25 years ago has not turned into reality. Instead we have entered a new era of harsh geostrategic competition,” she told the World Economic Forum.

“We will need to work together to avoid a global race to the bottom.”

Responding to ex-ECB president Mario Draghi’s report on competitiveness last year, she said the Commission will soon propose new policies in three key areas - deepening capital markets integration; allowing big companies to work across the EU under a single set of rules; and creating an “energy union”.

“It is time to complete our energy union so that clean power can run freely across our continent .”

In what appeared to be a sideswipe at Donald Trump’s approach, Von Der Leyen said, “with Europe, what you see is what you get. We play by the rules. Our deals have no strings attached.” She said her new Commission would make its first foreign trip to India.

Von der Leyen also stressed the close trade and economic connections between the EU and the US, however, saying the EU would engage early with the new administration.

She said:

“We will be pragmatic, but we will always stand by our principles. We will protect our interests and uphold our values, because that is the European way.”

There’s drama inside the Congress Centre here at Davos, where two Greenpeace International activists have held a protest calling for wealth taxes.

Two Greenpeace activists unveiled a banner reading “Tax the Super-rich! Fund a Just and Green Future”, above the main lobby near the WEF Congress Hall (where the big speeches take place).

Clara Thompson, Greenpeace spokesperson in Davos, explains:

“As the world faces increasing threats to democracy through the collusion of wealth and power, the urgency to tax the super-rich is ever increasing.

Having billionaires in positions of leadership, governing with impunity, is a stark reminder of the dangerous intersection of extreme wealth and politics, and its impact on democracy, people and the planet.”

The security here at WEF is pretty tight – you need to be registered to get in, and delegates go through airpost-style scanners at the entrance points. So this is quite a coup by Greenpeace.

Donald Trump’s decision to launch a crypto meme coin last week is a sign that we have entered a new era, delegates here have heard.

Analyst Ian Bremmer says the move is “unprecedented”, and asks delegates to imagine the reaction if Indian prime minister Narendra Modi had taken such a mood.

Bremmer says:

If India were doing this, we’d say this was a kleptocracy.

[Reminder: The value of Trump’s coin soared in value after it was launched, only to reverse after a Melania coin was debuted]

On Trump’s crypto move, Harvard’s Graham Allison says:

“We are in a new world where that will be the new normal, for a while.”

Allison also compares the situation in the US today to the actions of the robber barrons – the wealthy, powerful and unethical businessmen of the 19th century.

He says questions about whether Elon Musk will use his influence to promote his companies miss an important point – it’s his feduciary duty to do just that!

Donald Trump is looming over delegates at the World Economic Forum in Davos today.

Ian Bremmer, president and founder of Eurasia Group, is predicting a “dramatic shift to the US-China relationship” in the next few months.

Bremmer tells WEF that he believes the US China relationship is the one where it will be most problematic to get a deal.

He predicts we are heading towards a trade war, and a more strategic decoupling of the two economies.

“China’s complicated,” Bremmer points out, saying that the only way US-China relations were stabilised recently was due to a large number of bilateral meeting between the two sides.

Bremmer says Trump wants to meet Xi, flatter him, and get a deal…but it wil be hard to get a deal that works for all in his administration, and which will please Congress.

Chancellor Rachel Reeves is heading to the World Economic Forum meeting in Davos later today in a push to win new investment for the UK economy.

Reeves will be emphasising the UK’s political and economic stability and promoting the government as pro-business.

She is expected to meet business leaders including the JPMorgan Chase chief executive, Jamie Dimon, Goldman Sachs boss David Solomon, and Jo Taylor, president of giant Canadian pensions fund the Ontario Teachers’ Pension Plan.

Reeves said:

“Business leaders and investors need to know that the UK is where their businesses will flourish, so I’m meeting them face to face in Davos to make our case.”

Good morning from Davos, where the first full day of the World Economic Forum is getting underway.

We’ll hear from a slew of global leaders, as the world digests the inauguration of Donald Trump yesterday, and the flurry of executive orders from the White House.

That includes Ding Xuexiang, Vice-Premier of China, where there may be relief that Trump has declined to flesh out his plans for taxing Chinese imports.

But while the much-feared trade war hasn’t kicked off, yet anyway, there’s anxiety over what the next few years will bring – with escalating armed conflict seen as the biggest risk facing the world economy.

Karen Harris, managing director of Bain & Company’s Macro Trends Group, points out that the last five years have been the most “macro-economically shocking in modern history”, starting with the Covid-19 pandemic and followed by the inflation shock.

Harris adds:

“As business and political leaders gather in Davos in 2025, one key question dominates: Will this tumultuous five-year period end with a gentle return to normal?

“The data suggests so. The IMF projects 2024 global growth at 3.2%, slightly below the 2010–2019 median of 3.5%, with 2025 growth at 3.3%. To our 2019 selves, these numbers might imply normalcy: the US and China driving growth, Europe sluggish, global output steady at 3–3.5%.

“Yet beneath these numbers sits fragility: alarming unemployment change in the US, deflation in China, stagnation in Europe, and a high degree of equity market concentration**.

“Additionally, the change of US administration also challenges this narrative. A focus on reducing trade deficits, primarily affecting China but also Europe, could disrupt the US’s role as a major provider of global demand. If the US undergoes such structural shifts, the EU could face intense competition with China for export market share. This complicates the notion of a back-to-normal soft landing. Instead, normal will be continued uncertainty.”

The agenda

• 8.15am CET / 7.15am GMT: A session on ‘47th US Presidency Early Thoughts’

• 9.30am CET / 8.30am GMT: Conversation with David Beckham

• 9.30am CET / 8.30am GMT: Session on the US Dollar

• 10.50am CET / 9.50am GMT: Special Address by Ursula von der Leyen, President of the European Commission

• 11.20am CET /10.20am GMT: Special Address by Ding Xuexiang, Vice-Premier of the People’s Republic of China

• 1pm CET / noon GMT: A session on crypto

• 2pm CET / 1pm GMT: Special Address by Olaf Scholz, Federal Chancellor of Germany

• 2.30pm CET / 1.30pm GMT: Special Address by Volodymyr Zelenskyy, President of Ukraine

• 3pm CET / 2pm GMT: Special Address by Cyril Ramaphosa, President of South Africa

• 5pm CET/ 4pm GMT: A Conversation with Isaac Herzog, President of Israel