President Trump spoke at the World Economic Forum virtually Thursday and detailed his plans for the U.S. and the role other countries can play.
The annual forum was in Davos, Switzerland, and was attended by political and business leaders from around the world. He attended the forum twice in person during his first term.
He called on global businesses to make their products in America in exchange for lower taxes.
“My message to every business in the world is very simple: Come make your product in America, and we will give you among the lowest taxes of any nation on earth,” he said.
“We’re bringing them down very substantially, even from the original Trump tax cuts. But if you don’t make your product in America, which is your prerogative, then very simply you will have to pay a tariff.”
The president said the tariffs will be of “differing amounts” and will “direct hundreds of billions of dollars and even trillions of dollars into our treasury to strengthen our economy and pay down debt.”
The president has vowed to put tariffs on products coming in from Mexico, Canada, China and other countries, saying levies on foreign goods will help the U.S. pay down its debt.
In his remarks to the Davos crows, Mr. Trump reiterated his plan to tap more U.S. oil and gas. He called on Saudi Arabia and OPEC to lower oil prices, saying if they came down, “the Russia-Ukraine war would end immediately.”
“You gotta bring it down, which, frankly, I’m surprised they didn’t do before the election,” Mr. Trump said. “Right now, the price is high enough that that war will continue. You got to bring down the oil price. You could end that war.”
He blamed oil prices as “responsible to a certain extent for what’s taking place.”
The president also said he wants to talk with Russian President Vladimir Putin to find a way to end the war in Ukraine.
“And that’s not from the standpoint of the economy or anything else,” he said. “It’s from the standpoint of millions of lives are being wasted.”
Before the election, Mr. Trump repeatedly said he could end the war on Day 1, but the war continues. He said that China could play a role in the war ending.
Addressing security issues, he called on NATO members to spend much more on defense.
“I’m also going to ask all NATO nations to increase defense spending to 5% of [gross domestic product], which is what it should have been years ago,” he said.
He noted that “most nations didn’t pay until I came along” in his first term in office.
“I insisted that they pay, and they did because the United States was really paying the difference at that time and it was unfair to the United States,” he said.
• Mallory Wilson can be reached at mwilson@washingtontimes.com.