By Andrew Restuccia
DAVOS, Switzerland -- President Trump touted what he described
as a "blue-collar boom" transforming the U.S. economy and hailed
his trade agreement with China in a speech to global business and
government leaders, hours before his impeachment trial was set to
begin.
In a 30-minute, campaign-style address aimed less at the
audience gathered at the World Economic Forum in this Swiss
mountain resort, and more at the 100 senators weighing his future,
Mr. Trump ticked off a list of accomplishments from low
unemployment to increases in foreign investment.
"The American dream is back, bigger, better and stronger than
ever before," Mr. Trump said. "No one is benefiting more than
American's middle class."
The president said it was time for policy makers and executives
to stop doubting his America-first agenda and his willingness to
impose trade tariffs, which he said were clearly successful. "The
time for skepticism is over," he said.
As he lauded the benefits of the phase-one trade deal the U.S.
signed with China last week, he threatened another trade battle
with Europe, saying his administration is serious about imposing
fresh tariffs on cars from the region if a new trade agreement
isn't struck.
"The EU has treated the U.S. very unfairly for a very long
time," he said in an interview with The Wall Street Journal on the
sidelines of the forum. "They know that I'm going to put tariffs on
them if they don't make a deal."
Mr. Trump delivered his address in Davos before a crowd of
several hundred people, who largely remained silent during his
remarks before applauding politely when he wrapped up.
Afterward, Axel Weber, chairman of Swiss bank UBS Group AG, said
Mr. Trump's speech "was a typical sales pitch of the CEO in Davos
overselling the company's achievements and underreporting on some
of the risks that are there."
David McKay, the chief executive of Royal Bank of Canada, said
that, based on his meetings in Davos so far, business leaders
shared Mr. Trump's optimism. "There's a general positivity about
economic opportunity in the U.S.," Mr. McKay said.
Tuesday was Mr. Trump's second appearance at the summit as
president. In 2018, he sought to reassure world leaders and
business executives that there was a place for global cooperation
in his nationalist worldview. "'America First' does not mean
America alone," he said at the time.
His speech at the summit coincides with the first day of a trial
in the U.S. Senate to determine whether he should be removed from
office. In a legal filing Monday, Mr. Trump's legal team urged the
Senate to swiftly reject the articles of impeachment, calling the
case frivolous and dangerous.
Mr. Trump's remarks focused on the vibrancy of the American
economy and the benefits he said he has delivered for people left
behind in earlier booms, emphasizing employment gains by people
without college degrees, African-Americans and military
veterans.
The president addressed the issue of inequality, saying that
wages for low-income Americans have been growing faster than those
of the richest. "For the first time in decades, we're not only
concentrating wealth in the hands of a few."
The U.S. labor market is in a strong spot, with the unemployment
rate having held at a 50-year low of 3.5% in December.
Wages for rank-and-file workers have been rising at the quickest
pace in more than a decade, even faster than for bosses, a sign
that the labor market has tightened sufficiently to convey bigger
increases to lower-paid employees. Pay for the bottom 25% of wage
earners rose 4.6% in December from a year earlier, according to the
Federal Reserve Bank of Atlanta. Wages for the top 25% of earners
rose 3%.
On trade, Mr. Trump said the new agreement with Canada and
Mexico and last week's signing of an early-stage deal with China
"represent a new model of trade for the 21st century." He said the
pact with China addressed the longstanding problems of "China's
predatory practices."
He also highlighted trade agreements with Japan and South Korea
and said his administration looks forward "to negotiating a
tremendous new deal with the U.K." The U.K. is set to split with
the European Union on Jan. 31 and is seeking to strike new trade
agreements with other countries.
Despite recent tensions with European capitals over trade, the
U.S. and France this week reached a tentative truce in their
standoff over the country's plan to tax tech companies.
Following a Sunday phone call between the leaders of the two
countries, French President Emmanuel Macron agreed to postpone
until the end of 2020 a tax that France levied on big tech
companies last year. In return, the U.S. will postpone retaliatory
tariffs this year, officials said.
"It's not that I'm in love with them," Mr. Trump said of U.S.
tech companies in the interview, "but if anybody is going to tax
these companies, it's going to be the U.S. that taxes these
companies."
--Jenny Strasburg, Parmy Olson and Harriet Torry contributed to
this article.
Write to Andrew Restuccia at Andrew.Restuccia@wsj.com
(END) Dow Jones Newswires
January 21, 2020 10:22 ET (15:22 GMT)
Copyright (c) 2020 Dow Jones & Company, Inc.